The Liquigas cycling team, captained by Italian Danilo Di Luca, won the opening day team time trial at the Giro d'Italia on Saturday on a twisting course around the island of Sardinia.
While teammate Enrico Gasparotto finished first and received the pink leader's jersey, Di Luca will get the same time, putting him 16 seconds ahead of former Giro winner Paolo Savoldelli and the Astana team.
Di Luca has been named among the possible winners of this wide-open Giro d'Italia. The odds-on favorite of the race, Gilberto Simoni, finished 1-minute, 28 seconds behind with the Saunier Duval team. Another favorite, Damiano Cunego, fared better with Lampre, which finished 42 seconds behind the leader.
The wild team time trial opened the 2007 Giro d'Italia on the rocky island of Sardinia, held there to commemorate the 200th birthday of Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Some riders had complained about the opening day's course, a windy, twisting, turning 14.9-mile route from the northern tip of Sardinia to the adjoining island of Maddelena.
The cyclists had foreseen the difficulties of holding together a nine-man team, as few finished intact. Team time trials aare usually scheduled on stages with long, straight flats. This stage hooked around an island and experienced frequently changing shoreside winds.
The official time is taken from the fifth rider crossing the line, and some, such as the Discovery Channel, finishing fifth, had to wait for a fifth rider. That was team captain Yaroslav Popovych, who crashed on a turn near the finish.
CSC finished 3rd, 33 seconds out of first.
Sunday's stage remains on Sardinia with a 126-mile race between Tempio Pausanio and Bosa.
Stage 1 results at CyclingNews or VeloNews.
Recent Comments