Giro d’Italia 2014 – Stage 01 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

May 9, 2014

Giro d’Italia 2014 – Stage 1 TTT – Belfast – Belfast : 21,7 km

It’s a bit of a strange choice to start the Giro d’Italia in Belfast. When you think the last time a Grand Tour visited Ireland, the infamous 1998 Tour de France, the only memorable thing was the Festina affair and everyone suspicious or frightened about going home before the end. Then there’s the Titanic Centre as the first stage focal point, that wasn’t exactly a successful venture either. Maybe the organisers are thinking outside the box, maybe it’s third time lucky or maybe I’m just being miserable. It just seems a strange choice, but then the Giro d’Italia people quite often make decisions like that. Like the team time trial to open affairs; a debatable way to start a race if ever there was one. It makes things ordered but I’m not sure it brings any excitement to the opening stages. And though foreign starts are well and good for promotional use, the race won’t really get under way until it is back in Italy. Most of the riders will be hoping to get through the opening three stages without falling off, losing too much time or getting wet in the rain. Good luck with that last hope.

Orica-GreenEdge made use of a perfect storm to win the opening stage of the 2014 Giro d’Italia in Belfast on Friday. The Australian WorldTour team, who claimed the win in the same discipline at the Tour de France last summer, posted a time of 24:42 over the 21.7km course with Svein Tuft crossing the line first to secure the maglia rosa on his 37th birthday.

Rigoberto Uran and his Omega Pharma QuickStep team finished second, five second down, with Cadel Evans and his BMC teammates in third, seven seconds adrift of Orica-GreenEdge. However, both teams were forced to contend with wet roads after a rain shower blighted a gripping opening stage.

There was heartbreak for Garmin-Sharp’s general classification contender and home favourite Dan Martin. The Irishman crashed out of the race with a suspected broken collarbone. Although the team’s other GC man, 2012 Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal, finished safely with four others, his team’s race hangs in tatters after they lost 3:26 in the stage.

Martin’s crash certainly overshadowed the result, but Orica-GreenEdge will care little for that as they bask in the first maglia rosa of this year’s race. They have developed as specialists in team time trials and entered the race as favourites. They certainly rode with intent, setting off second after Team Colombia had kick-started this year’s edition of the race.

However by the time Tuft and his teammates had crossed the line the weather had changed dramatically with grey skies gathering before a downpour ensued.

The difficult conditions played havoc with the teams that started soon after, with Katusha and Movistar both forced to hold back on a number of wet corners. Joaquim Rodriguez’s Katusha team finished the day in 19th place, conceding well over a minute to his closet rivals. Nairo Quintana fared somewhat better, and although his team looked rather sketchy on a number of corners they will be satisfied to have limited their losses to less than a minute.

Orica GreenEdge had lost Mitchell Docker early on but Tuft, allied with the firepower of Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, and Brett Lancaster marshalled the team through. They had set up a training camp specifically for the TTT and it clearly paid off as they whistled through the technical sections the course challenged them with.

Tuft, 37 today, came through the final bend on the front. He looked around his teammates clearly aware of their eagerness to lead them home.

“What an amazing day. I never imagined something like this would happen. I’m so proud of the team and can’t thank them enough,” he said at the finish.

“They gave me the gift, it was really a birthday present. This team is really selfless that way. I feel really fortunate to be given that gift on my birthday.”

Tuft, somewhat of a time trial journeyman, has been with the team since their inception and helped them pick up important time trial wins at Tirreno and last year’s Tour. He becomes only the second Canadian rider to wear the maglia rosa.

However victory wasn’t a complete certainty. The rain eased in the second half of the stage and although Movistar, Sky and Katusha saw the worst of the weather, BMC, QuickStep and Astana were still to come.

With drier roads and a target to aim for at the top of the leader board all three set out with purpose. BMC, fresh from their triumph at Trentino, were brimming with confidence. Evans a genuine contender for overall victory marshalled his men, holding them to within touching distance throughout the stage.

QuickStep, although lacking their big guns, know how to ride team events and at the Stormont time check they were just 14 seconds down on the leaders. That became 11 at the second time check.

Garmin were in the mix, and around 40 seconds down as they carved through the intermediate sections of the course. Then disaster hit. A pothole, a manhole, it matters so little now, but all of a sudden the armada were scattered. Four hit the deck and as the cameras panned round and watched as three men quickly moved to their feet we were left with Dan Martin, sitting up but cupping his right shoulder.

There was little time for reflection as teams raced past the fallen rider and towards the finish. Up ahead both QuickStep and BMC clawed back a few more seconds but it wasn’t enough. GreenEdge held on, and Evans and Uran began their race with near-perfect rides. As for Martin it’s over almost as soon as it began.

Results :
1 Orica Greenedge 0:24:42
2 Omega Pharma-QuickStep 0:00:05
3 BMC 0:00:07
4 Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:23
5 Team Sky 0:00:35
6 Astana 0:00:38
7 Cannondale 0:00:53
8 Movistar Team 0:00:55
9 Giant-Shimano 0:00:56
10 Ag2r-La Mondiale 0:00:58
11 Trek Factory Racing 0:01:00
12 Belkin 0:01:01
13 Neri Sottoli
14 Bardiani-CSF 0:01:07
15 Androni Giocattoli 0:01:14
16 FDJ.fr 0:01:18
17 Lampre-Merida 0:01:20
18 Colombia 0:01:22
19 Katusha 0:01:33
20 Lotto Belisol 0:01:34
21 Europcar 0:01:48
22 Garmin-Sharp 0:03:26

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Svein Tuft (Can) Orica Greenedge 0:24:42
2 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica Greenedge
3 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica Greenedge
4 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica Greenedge
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica Greenedge
6 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica Greenedge
7 Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:05
8 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
9 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
10 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
11 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
12 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
13 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:07
14 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
15 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
16 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team
17 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
18 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09
19 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:22
20 Wout Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team
21 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica Greenedge
22 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:23
23 Jay Mccarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
24 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
25 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo
26 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
27 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
28 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
29 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo
30 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:35
31 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Team Sky
32 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky
33 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky
34 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Sky
35 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
36 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Team Sky
37 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:38
38 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
39 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
40 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team
41 Borut Bozic (Slo) Astana Pro Team
42 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
43 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
44 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
45 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team
46 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:41
47 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:52
48 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale 0:00:53
49 Michel Koch (Ger) Cannondale
50 Ivan Basso (Ita) Cannondale
51 Daniele Ratto (Ita) Cannondale
52 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale
53 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Cannondale
54 Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale
55 Adriano Malori (Ita) Movistar Team 0:00:55
56 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team
57 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar Team
58 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Movistar Team
59 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team
60 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 0:00:56
61 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano
62 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano
63 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Shimano
64 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Shimano
65 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:58
66 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
67 Davide Appollonio (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
68 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
69 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
70 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
71 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
72 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:00
73 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing
74 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Trek Factory Racing
75 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing
76 Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Col) Trek Factory Racing
77 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
78 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) Trek Factory Racing
79 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo 0:01:01
80 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo
81 Andrea Fedi (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo
82 Matteo Rabottini (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo
83 Jonathan Monsalve (Ven) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo
84 Giorgio Cecchinel (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo
85 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
86 Jetse Bol (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
87 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
88 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
89 Marc Goos (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
90 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team
91 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani-CSF 0:01:07
92 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
93 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
94 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
95 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
96 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
97 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
98 Marco Canola (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
99 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
100 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:14
101 Yonder Godoy (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
102 Diego Rosa (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
103 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
104 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
105 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Androni Giocattoli
106 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Cannondale 0:01:16
107 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) FDJ.fr 0:01:18
108 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr
109 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ.fr
110 Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ.fr
111 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ.fr
112 Johan Le Bon (Fra) FDJ.fr
113 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:01:20
114 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
115 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
116 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida
117 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre-Merida
118 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida
119 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida
120 Albert Timmer (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
121 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia 0:01:23
122 Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Colombia
123 Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Colombia
124 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia
125 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia
126 José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:29
127 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Team Katusha 0:01:33
128 Luca Paolini (Ita) Team Katusha
129 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team Katusha
130 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha
131 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Team Katusha
132 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:01:34
133 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Belisol
134 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol
135 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Belisol
136 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol
137 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale 0:01:42
138 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team
139 Marco Bandiera (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:48
140 Bjorn Thurau (Ger) Team Europcar
141 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar
142 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar
143 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar
144 Maxime Mederel (Fra) Team Europcar
145 Tony Hurel (Fra) Team Europcar
146 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Team Europcar
147 Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar
148 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:53
149 Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Col) Colombia 0:01:57
150 Rick Flens (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:02:08
151 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:02:09
152 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:02:13
153 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 0:02:15
154 Daniele Colli (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo 0:02:28
155 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
156 Tom Veelers (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano 0:02:33
157 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:02:44
158 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
159 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica Greenedge 0:02:45
160 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ.fr 0:02:59
161 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:05
162 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:11
163 Rodolfo Andres Torres Agudelo (Col) Colombia 0:03:19
164 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Shimano 0:03:21
165 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp 0:03:26
166 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin Sharp
167 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Garmin Sharp
168 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Garmin Sharp
169 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin Sharp
170 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo 0:03:38
171 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Team Katusha 0:03:41
172 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:03:52
173 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Sky 0:04:00
174 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky
175 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
176 Evgeny Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:04:01
177 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:04:06
178 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:04:12
179 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:15
180 Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:04:18
181 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Belisol
182 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:04:23
183 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ.fr
184 David Tanner (Aus) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:04:33
185 Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica Greenedge
186 Jeffry Johan Romero Corredor (Col) Colombia 0:04:37
187 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia
188 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Team Europcar 0:04:45
189 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:05:08
190 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Team Katusha 0:05:15
191 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Team Katusha
192 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:05:25
193 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:05:32
194 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin Sharp 0:05:57
195 André Cardoso (Por) Garmin Sharp
196 Ramon Carretero (Pan) Neri Sottoli – Yellow Fluo 0:06:02
OTL Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Garmin Sharp 0:10:11