Giro d’Italia 2015 – Stage 01 [FULL STAGE – Team Time Trial]

May 09, 2015

Giro d’Italia 2015 – Stage 1 – San Lorenzo al Mare – Sanremo (TTT) – 17,6 km

When the 98th edition of the Giro d’Italia was presented in Milan’s Palazzo del Ghiaccio last October, it was widely considered as a balanced and fair route – a parcours that would allow the pure climbers to prove their mettle, while providing the robust time triallists with enough kilometres to establish their own credentials. Throw in a sprinkling of stages for the sprinters and a dash of love for the puncheurs, and just about every clan within the peloton had something to aim at.With the race just a matter of days away those sentiments remain true and the 2015 Giro d’Italia – on paper, desktop and tablet – looks a mouth-watering proposition. In the ‘fight for pink’ a volley of GC contenders will vie for the maglia rosa with Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) returning to the race for the first time since 2011 as he seeks the first part of his Giro-Tour de France double. He will face stiff opposition in Rigoberto Uran (Etixx QuickStep), Richie Porte (Team Sky) and home favourite Fabio Aru (Astana), while several other contenders, old and new, could make significant impacts on the race.

Orica GreenEdge stormed to victory on the opening stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia with an impressive and disciplined ride in the team time trial.

The Australian WorldTour team scorched over the 17.6 kilometre course between San Lorenzo al Mare and Sanremo in a time of 19:26 to put Simon Gerrans into the first maglia rosa of this year’s race. Tinkoff-Saxo fell short by 7 seconds, with Astana in third at 13 seconds.

Orica was second fastest at the intermediate time check at 9.9km behind Tinkoff Saxo, but held their nerve and their line to push Fabio Aru and his Astana team off the top of the leader board with Gerrans leading them home.

“I think technically we can be very happy,” Gerrans said at the line. “We set a really fast time, and left it all out there.

“It was planned that I would be the first over the line. It’s an enormous honour to wear the Maglia Rosa. This team has built a reputation for Team Time Trials, and we have some real specialists here, so this result is a credit to them.”

Alberto Contador’s Tinkoff Saxo stormed through the intermediate check to briefly lead and threaten Orica’s defence of the TTT crown they won at the Giro last year, but the Russian team faltered in the closing stages, even dropping Contador briefly. They lost Italian veteran Ivan Basso in the closing stages and were down to six riders as they raced through the final kilometre of the stage.

They regrouped with Micahel Rogers marshalling the team, and although they consistently lost time in the closing kilometres, they were able to hang on for second place on the stage

For Gerrans, the win marked an incredible turn around in what has been a difficult season for the former Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Milan-San Remo winner.

He broke a collarbone in December and missed the Tour Down Under, a race he has targeted and won in the past. He also crashed in his first race back, Strade Bianche, breaking his elbow, but he was integral to his team’s ride today and duly pulled on the pink jersey, not far from where he won Milan-San Remo.

“Hopefully my season starts again today. It’s been very hard so far but hopefully there are really good things to come,” Gerrans said.

In the battle for the maglia rosa Alberto Contador took an early advantage over some of his closet rivals with Aru six seconds down and Uran’s Etixx-QuickStep team finishing fourth and losing twelve seconds to the Spaniard. However, Richie Porte and Team Sky suffered most, finishing ninth on the stage and losing twenty seconds to the Tinkoff Saxo leader.

Results :
1 Orica GreenEdge 0:19:26
2 Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:07
3 Astana Pro Team 0:00:13
4 Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:19
5 Movistar Team 0:00:21
6 BMC Racing Team 0:00:25
7 IAM Cycling
8 FDJ.fr 0:00:26
9 Team Sky 0:00:27
10 Team Katusha
11 Trek Factory Racing 0:00:29
12 Lotto Soudal
13 Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:36
14 Bardiani CSF 0:00:37
15 CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:45
16 AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:48
17 Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:49
18 Southeast Pro Cycling 0:00:52
19 Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:53
20 Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:00:57
21 Lampre-Merida 0:00:59
22 Androni Giocattoli 0:01:03

General classification after stage 1 :

1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 0:19:26
2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
3 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
4 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica GreenEdge
5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
6 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge
7 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:07
8 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo
9 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
10 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo
11 Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxo
12 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo
13 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:13
14 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
15 Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana Pro Team
16 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team
17 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
18 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
19 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
20 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team
21 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Astana Pro Team
22 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:00:19
23 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
24 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Etixx – Quick-Step
25 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step
26 Pieter Serry (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
27 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx – Quick-Step
28 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:21
29 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
30 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
31 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
32 Benat Intxausti (Spa) Movistar Team
33 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
34 Igor Anton (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team
36 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:00:25
37 Stef Clement (Ned) IAM Cycling
38 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) IAM Cycling
39 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling
40 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling
41 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
42 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team
43 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
44 Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC Racing Team
45 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team
46 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
47 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team
48 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) BMC Racing Team
49 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team
50 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:00:26
51 Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) FDJ.fr
52 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr
53 Kévin Reza (Fra) FDJ.fr
54 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) FDJ.fr
55 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr
56 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:00:27
57 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky
58 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
59 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
60 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Team Sky
61 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
62 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
63 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
64 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha
65 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Team Katusha
66 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Team Katusha
67 Luca Paolini (Ita) Team Katusha
68 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha
69 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha
70 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:29
71 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Trek Factory Racing
72 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
73 Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing
74 Fabio Silvestre (Por) Trek Factory Racing
75 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Soudal
76 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
77 Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal
78 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
79 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
80 Roger Kluge (Ger) IAM Cycling 0:00:34
81 Robert Wagner (Ger) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:36
82 Rick Flens (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
83 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
84 Moreno Hofland (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
85 Nick Van Der Lijke (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
86 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
87 Martijn Keizer (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
88 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:37
89 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
90 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF
91 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF
92 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF
93 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF
94 Francesco Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani CSF
95 Luca Chirico (Ita) Bardiani CSF
96 Ivan Basso (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:00:39
97 Clement Chevrier (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:00:43
98 Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:00:45
99 Bertjan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
100 Sylwester Szmyd (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
101 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
102 Grega Bole (Slo) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
103 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
104 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
105 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
106 Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
107 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:48
108 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
109 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
110 Hugo Houle (Can) AG2R La Mondiale
111 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
112 Carlos Betancur (Col) AG2R La Mondiale
113 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) AG2R La Mondiale
114 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:00:49
115 Caleb Fairly (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
116 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
117 Chad Haga (USA) Team Giant-Alpecin
118 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Alpecin
119 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin
120 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:50
121 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling 0:00:52
122 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling
123 Jonathan Monsalve (Ven) Southeast Pro Cycling
124 Elia Favilli (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling
125 Matteo Busato (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling
126 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling
127 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Southeast Pro Cycling
128 Janier Acevedo (Col) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:53
129 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
130 Thomas Danielson (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
131 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
132 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
133 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
134 Andre Cardoso (Por) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
135 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:55
136 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Southeast Pro Cycling 0:00:56
137 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:00:57
138 Giacomo Berlato (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
139 Alessandro Malaguti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
140 Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
141 Alessandro Bisolti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
142 Daniele Colli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
143 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
144 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:59
145 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Lampre-Merida
146 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida
147 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre-Merida
148 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
149 Jan Polanc (Slo) Lampre-Merida
150 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:00
151 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
152 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:03
153 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) Androni Giocattoli
154 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
155 Tiziano Dall’Antonia (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
156 Davide Appollonio (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
157 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
158 Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:05
159 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:01:09
160 Alan Marangoni (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:10
161 Manabu Ishibashi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:01:12
162 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Soudal 0:01:15
163 Nicola Boem (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:01:21
164 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:01:25
165 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:27
166 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo
167 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:01:41
168 Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:01:48
169 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) FDJ.fr
170 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ.fr
171 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:01:56
172 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:57
173 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:02:13
174 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha
175 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Orica GreenEdge 0:02:15
176 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica GreenEdge
177 Sergio Paulinho (Por) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:02:24
178 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:02:27
179 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:02:30
180 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Lampre-Merida 0:02:32
181 Cheng Ji (Chn) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:02:33
182 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Giant-Alpecin
183 Marco Bandiera (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:02:43
184 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling 0:02:45
185 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:46
186 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
187 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:03:02
188 Calvin Watson (Aus) Trek Factory Racing 0:03:06
189 Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:07
190 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Sky 0:03:09
191 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:03:11
192 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing 0:03:20
193 Gang Xu (Chn) Lampre-Merida 0:03:21
194 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:03:28
195 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step
196 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:31
197 Ramon Carretero (Pan) Southeast Pro Cycling 0:03:53