Giro d’Italia 2013 – Stage 02 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

May 5, 2013

Giro d’Italia 2013 – Stage 2 – Ischia – Forio (TTT) : 17,4 km

This year’s Giro d’Italia is set to be one of the best ever editions of the Corsa Rosa, promising three weeks of great racing with the Italian countryside as a stunning backdrop. The race route is finely balanced, with the passion and warmth of Naples and the south of Italy coming before a visit to Florence, little-known mountain stages in the northeast, a ‘homage’ to the French Alps with a summit finish on the Galibier, and then a grand finale in the Dolomites. The Giro d’Italia tifosi admire the best international riders but they love a home favourite and everyone in Italian cycling is hoping Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) can take on Wiggins this year and win his first maglia rosa.

Team Sky stormed to victory on the stage two team time trial at the Giro d’Italia on Sunday. The British team completed the 17.4 kilometre course between Ischia and Foria in a time of 22:05 and gained enough time on the other teams to put young Italian Salvatore Puccio into the pink jersey. Bradley Wiggins is second overall, in the same time, and has gained some significant seconds on all his overall rivals.

Team Sky looked in control throughout the undulating and technical terrain, with Wiggins leading through the majority of the early sectors. Despite crossing the line with just five men the British team held on for the win after a controlled but fast ride in the hilly second part of the course.

Team Sky had hoped to put Italian time trial champion Dario Cataldo into the pink jersey and he crossed the line first. But Puccio finished in fifth place, at the same time and so took pink after finishing better placed (33rd) on Saturday’s stage in Naples.

Puccio was slightly embarrassed but happy to pull on the maglia rosa.

“It’s a surprise to have taken the pink jersey but I’m very happy. The idea was to try and give it Cataldo but I hung on and finished in the same time. I had a better stage results yesterday and so I got the jersey. I have to thank the team for this special moment,” he said.

“This is my first Giro d’Italia. It’ll be great to wear the pink jersey for a few days. I’ll ride up front and we’ll see what happens.”

A long day on Ischia island

Riders and teams had made their way to Ischia after an early wake up call in Naples. The island, with a population of just 62,000, would play host to the race, with it’s demandingly tight roads offering up an early test of the GC riders in this year’s race.

Starting at three-minute intervals, Colombia was the first team to roll down the start ramp. They gave a respectable account for themselves and set an early marker of 23:01. It was an indication for the teams who were to follow that pacing and control were key with the race debutants finishing with eight riders.

Blanco and a number of teams soon posted faster times but Team Sky was already on the course and finding out that even the best laid plans could be effected by marginal mistakes in equal measures to marginal gains. Starting with one of the strongest teams they were soon down to eight men when Danny Pate struggled with his gears. The American was able to chase back but soon after Christian Knees was dropped.

However by the intermediate time check at 7.9 kilometres Team Sky had still set the fastest time of 10:12. The boys in black lost other riders but were strong and compact in the final part of the course. While some teams faded and lost seconds, Team Sky was fast and together.

Their finish time of 22:08 was still fast enough to take the lead, with Blanco pushed into provisional second at 28 second down.

One of Wiggins’ main challengers, Vincenzo Nibali, was on the start line at this point. Astana have looked a complete team this year and Nibali’s time trialing in particular has improved significantly. However it was Italian stalwarts Lampre-Merida who were running Team Sky closest, crossing the line at the intermediate check just one second down.

Another longstanding flagship team did even better with Movistar – you can trace their routes back to Miguel Indurain – going two seconds faster than Wiggins’ chain gang at the same point.

Astana secured a respectable fifth at the time check but when Garmin, BMC and Orica GreenEdge all failed to trouble the top three the stage win looked to be between Team Sky, Astana and the surprise packages of Lampre-Merida and Movistar.

BMC had come into the race as possible podium contenders but it was Garmin-Sharp’s lack of punch that caused the major surprise. With the race’s defending champion Ryder Hesjedal in their ranks and with an impressive pedigree in TTT on Italian shores, they had been expected to challenge Team Sky all the way. They had all nine riders at the intermediate check, suggesting that a fight back might be on the cards but in truth the American outfit had started way too slow and given themselves too much to do. By the finish Hesjedal had lost 25 seconds to Wiggins and 11 to Nibali.

On the second half the course Team Sky’s metronomic five man concerto pulled clear. Lampre-Merida splintered and were briefly reduced to four men, while Euskaltel – never a team built for these occasions – lost the plot completely and finished with four.

Movistar crossed the line in second place with a time of 22:14, a measure of their preparation that has involved a dedicated team time trial camp in Spain, with Nibali and his teammates third in 22:19. However it was Team Sky’s day and Puccio’s special moment. The team time trial has given the first indication of the overall fight for this year’s Giro d’Italia.

Results :
1 Sky Procycling 0:22:05
2 Movistar Team 0:00:09
3 Astana Pro Team 0:00:14
4 Katusha 0:00:19
5 Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:00:22
6 Lampre-Merida
7 Garmin-Sharp 0:00:25
8 Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:00:28
9 Orica-GreenEdge
10 Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:34
11 Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:35
12 BMC Racing Team 0:00:37
13 Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:00:41
14 RadioShack Leopard 0:00:43
15 Team Saxo-Tinkoff
16 Androni Giocattoli 0:00:46
17 Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:48
18 Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:50
19 FDJ 0:00:55
20 Colombia 0:00:56
21 Lotto Belisol 0:01:00
22 Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:01
23 Team Argos-Shimano 0:01:13

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling 3:20:43
2 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling
3 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling
4 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Sky Procycling
5 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
6 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:09
7 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
8 José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team
10 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team
11 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:00:14
12 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
13 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
14 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team
15 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
16 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team
17 Luca Paolini (Ita) Katusha 0:00:19
18 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha
19 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha
20 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha
21 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha
22 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:00:22
23 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
24 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
25 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
26 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
27 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
28 Fabio Taborre (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
29 Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
30 Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Col) Lampre-Merida
31 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida
32 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:23
33 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:25
34 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
35 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp
36 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
37 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Sharp
38 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Sharp
39 Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:28
40 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
41 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
42 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge
43 Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
44 Christian Meier (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
45 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
46 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
47 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
48 Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
49 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-GreenEdge
50 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:34
51 Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
52 Willem Wauters (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
53 Frederik Veuchelen (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
54 Grega Bole (Slo) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
55 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:35
56 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
57 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
58 Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
59 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:37
60 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
61 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
62 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) BMC Racing Team
63 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
64 Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team
65 Danilo Hondo (Ger) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:39
66 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:00:41
67 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
68 Stefano Locatelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
69 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
70 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox
71 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:43
72 Rafal Majka (Pol) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
73 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) RadioShack Leopard
74 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
75 George Bennett (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
76 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
77 Tiago Machado (Por) RadioShack Leopard
78 Jesse Sergent (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
79 Hayden Roulston (NZl) RadioShack Leopard
80 Mads Christensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
81 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
82 Diego Rosa (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:46
83 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
84 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Androni Giocattoli
85 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
86 Giairo Ermeti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
87 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:48
88 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
89 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
90 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
91 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
92 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:00:50
93 Davide Appollonio (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
94 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
95 Ben Gastauer (Lux) Ag2R La Mondiale
96 Hubert Dupont (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
97 Sylvain Georges (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
98 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ 0:00:55
99 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ
100 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
101 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ
102 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ
103 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia 0:00:56
104 Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Colombia
105 Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia
106 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) Colombia
107 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia
108 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia
109 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia
110 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol 0:01:00
111 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol
112 Frederik Willems (Bel) Lotto Belisol
113 Francis De Greef (Bel) Lotto Belisol
114 Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) Lotto Belisol
115 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:01
116 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
117 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
118 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
119 Ricardo Mestre (Por) Euskaltel-Euskadi
120 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:02
121 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:01:04
122 Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Katusha
123 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:01:06
124 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ 0:01:08
125 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:01:13
126 Xabier Zandio Echaide (Spa) Sky Procycling
127 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Argos-Shimano
128 Thomas Damuseau (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano
129 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Argos-Shimano
130 Danny Pate (USA) Sky Procycling
131 Ioannis Tamouridis (Gre) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:20
132 Robert Vrecer (Slo) Euskaltel-Euskadi
133 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:22
134 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
135 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Movistar Team
136 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:01:24
137 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:01:27
138 Bruno Pires (Por) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:01:36
139 Leigh Howard (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:01:40
140 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Katusha 0:01:43
141 Alessandro Proni (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:01:45
142 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
143 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
144 Cayetano José Sarmiento Tunarrosa (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:01:52
145 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
146 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol 0:01:53
147 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano
148 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:01:57
149 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-Merida
150 Robert Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Sharp 0:02:01
151 Nelson Filipe Santos Simoes Oliveira (Por) RadioShack Leopard 0:02:05
152 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:02:09
153 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
154 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:14
155 Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) Astana Pro Team
156 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
157 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:02:27
158 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
159 Jens Mouris (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge
160 Marco Canola (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:28
161 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Argos-Shimano 0:02:29
162 Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:02:31
163 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:36
164 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
165 Fabio Felline (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
166 Tomas Aurelio Gil Martinez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
167 Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
168 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox 0:02:37
169 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:02:39
170 Julien Berard (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:02:43
171 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
172 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Ag2R La Mondiale
173 Cristiano Salerno (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:02:46
174 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:48
175 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Colombia 0:02:50
176 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Sharp 0:02:54
177 Adam Blythe (GBr) BMC Racing Team 0:02:58
178 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
179 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:03:05
180 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:03:12
181 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:03:21
182 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:03:22
183 Rafael Andriato (Bra) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia 0:03:27
184 Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rus) Katusha
185 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
186 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:03:31
187 Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ 0:03:33
188 David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp 0:03:38
189 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha 0:03:42
190 Dominique Rollin (Can) FDJ 0:03:47
191 Christian Knees (Ger) Sky Procycling 0:03:51
192 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano
193 Ji Cheng (Chn) Team Argos-Shimano
194 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:03:53
195 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Argos-Shimano
196 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:03:56
197 Brian Bulgac (Ned) Lotto Belisol 0:04:03
198 Kenny Dehaes (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:04:18
199 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:04:34
200 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) RadioShack Leopard 0:05:01
201 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ 0:05:02
202 Cameron Wurf (Aus) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:05:27
203 Stef Clement (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:05:35
204 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:05:37
205 Jack Bobridge (Aus) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:06:09
206 Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Col) Colombia 0:06:22
207 Pablo Urtasun Perez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:08:23