Giant-Alpecin's director Marc Reef said that his team's plan going into stage 4 of the Giro d'Italia was primarily an offensive one, which in the end, proved to be a fruitful strategy given that it put Tom Dumoulin back in the maglia rosa, while Georg Preidler is in fifth overall.
Dumoulin finished second on the stage, five seconds behind solo stage winner Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), and it was enough to move him back in to the overall lead. Preidler finished an additional one second behind, in the select group that made it over the final climb of the day.
"It was a very fast start to the race today with some dangerous riders for the GC in the early break. Therefore, the bunch was always in control and the gap never exceeded the 3'," Reef said.
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"The plan before the stage was to race offensively and we decided to open up on the first climb of the day. We needed to do something because we had four guys in the top 10 and there was a big possibility to go for a stage victory or to regain the leader's jersey.
"On the final climb of the day, Georg was able to follow the first group as Tom remained in the GC group. He followed his instinct and sprinted to the second place and managed to retake the pink jersey. The team rode a very impressive race and they executed the plan very well."
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