The Giro d’Italia gets under way this afternoon with a 19.3km time trial between Veneria Reale, on the outskirts of Turin, and the Piazza Vittoria Veneto in the city’s historic centre. The city was chosen to open this year’s race because it was the first ever capital of the unified Italy, 150 years ago. The stage course is almost completely flat and features few sharp corners and so will suit a team with a smooth flowing style.
While the most important pink jersey to win is the one on the final day, the team time trial presents the opportunity for many riders to take the first one. For many teams the stage will be an opportunity to place their overall favourites into a strong position against their rivals. For others though it offers a chance to put one of their riders into one of the most prestigious jerseys in the sport; even if they have little of no chance of winning the race overall.
The last time the race began with a team time trial was in 2009, when a similar distance in the Lido di Venezia (Venice) was won by the Columbia-HTC team. The first man to cross the line took the pink jersey, which was the team’s fast man Mark Cavendish and, the team that is now called HTC-Highroad, will be doing its best to repeat the feat this time. While the team will largely be riding for Cavendish though, it may well put Italian time trial champion Marco Pinotti across the line first to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his country’s unification.
The team’s big rival in 2009 was Garmin-Slipstream, now Garmin-Cervélo, and the American outfit should be one of the strongest contenders this time. In 2008, what was Garmin-Chipotle won the opening team time trial, which was again of similar distance to today’s race, putting Christian Vande Velde into pink; with a similarly strong time trialling unit this time, you wouldn’t bet against them doing it again.
Liquigas-Cannondale won last year’s Giro TTT, which was a little later in the race and over half the distance again; it is also true that the acid-green and blue team enjoyed better conditions than many of the other teams, who were caught in very heavy rainstorms on the course. The team’s performance put Vincenzo Nibali into pink and, while it is his aim to have the jersey at the end of the race he might not want it this early.
Rabobank won the slightly shorter Tirreno-Adriatico team time trial, ahead of Garmin-Cervélo and HTC-Highroad; it was a vastly different squad of riders though, but the Dutchmen should not be discounted.
Elsewhere, Team Sky has a powerful team, which could be a good bet for the race; for the rest though, like Alberto Contador’s Saxo Bank-SunGard team and Michele Scarponi’s Lampre-ISD, the stage could be an exercise in minimising losses against riders like Nibali.
Omega Pharma-Lotto will get the race underway at 15’50” (CET), with the other teams following at four minute intervals.
Team time trial start order (All times CET)
Omega Pharma - Lotto 15.50'00"
Katusha Team 15.54'00"
Pro Team Astana 15.58'00"
Androni Giocattoli - C.I.P.I. 16.02'00"
Colnago - CSF Inox 16.06'00"
Acqua & Sapone 16.10'00"
Euskaltel - Euskadi 16.14'00"
Rabobank Cycling Team 16.18'00"
Sky Procycling 16.22'00"
Geox - TMC 16.26'00"
Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli 16.30'00"
Saxo Bank SunGard 16.34'00"
BMC Racing Team 16.38'00"
HTC - Highroad 16.42'00"
Team Garmin – Cervélo 16.46'00"
Lampre - ISD 16.50'00"
Liquigas - Cannondale 16.54'00"
Leopard - Trek 16.58'00"
AG2R La Mondiale 17.02'00"
Quick Step Cycling Team 17.06'00"
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Team 17.10'00"
Team RadioShack 17.14'00"
Movistar Team 17.18'00"