Kristen Faulkner: "Hopefully we can hang onto the jersey for the next few days"

Kristen Faulkner won the first stage of the Giro d’Italia Donne while her teammate Georgia Baker secured second just 4 seconds behind her in the opening stage time trial in Sardinia. The victory was special since Faulkner will wear the first Maglia Rosa of this year’s race.

“I’m thrilled, I never thought I’d be wearing the pink jersey at this race, so it’s a huge surprise, but it’s a great surprise and it’s definitely something that was one of my dreams," Faulkner said in a post-race interview. "I just didn’t think it would come this soon. I did not come in thinking about holding onto the pink jersey, I have strong teammates who can climb and sprint, so I came into the Giro hoping to support them in this race," she nevertheless defends.

Having won the recent time-trial at the Tour de Suisse it didn't come as a surprise that the American won the initial stage, however the coming days will be more difficult. She will attempt to defend pink nonetheless: "I don’t know what the strategy will be now, but I know that we have a deep squad and a lot of cards to play, so hopefully we can play numbers and being in pink only makes our options stronger.

"I feel really proud of all the work my teammates and I and my coach have put in and I’m just really happy that I could bring home the pink on the first day for the team. I think stage two and three are probably likely a sprinter’s finish and then stage four is a day that you might not win the GC, but you might be able to lose it. I think there’s some punchy climbs, so hopefully we can hang onto the jersey for the next few days," the Team BikeExchange - Jayco rider concluded.