93rd Giro d'Italia -
Stage 1 ITT
SKY's the limit - Bradley Wiggins Pretty in Pink - Brit takes the opening stage
and first maglia Rosa in Amsterdam
©
210 Gazzetta dello Sport
Bradley Wiggins won the opening 8.4 km time trial/prologue of the 93rd
edition of the tour of Italy covering the course complicated by narrow lanes and
rain in a fast 48.932 kilometers an hour.
BMC Racing put two riders on the podium with Brent Bookwalter leading his
team leader and World Champion Cadel Evans to the finish by a few hundredths of
a second.
Alexandr Vinokourov of Astana and HTC/Columbia's fast man Greg Henderson
filled out the top 5 also almost in a dead heat in that order.
Kiwi Henderson is off to a good start as the fastest sprinter on the course
and on track for a shot to grab the pink jersey in the next two flat stages
likely to end in sprints. Some sprinters like Alessandro Petacchi
(Lampre/Farnese Vini picked their way taking no chances of a spill on a course
run over narrow roads, tight turns and was complicated by sections of more than
the usual numbers of slippery white pedestrian crossing paint and an almost
constant drizzle that only stopped briefly mid race with the roads never fully
dry during the competition.
Stage 1; Saturday 8th May
Amsterdam Individual Time Trial 8.4 km
Milram rider, Matthias Russ first out of the gate set a time of 11:03
averaging 45.610 km/h. on the wet and technical parcours, not the fastest
prologue course in recent history. Team mate Sebastien Lang followed taking the
barrier to the 10:48.
Andriy Grivko (Astana) raised the standard with a 10:31; but a battle
of champions followed with Italian Marco Pinotti and World's Silver medalist
Gustav Larsson of Saxo Bank dueling on the course Larsson set the first time
bench mark on the course of 10:25 with the HTC/Columbia rider coming up second 2
seconds off the Swede.
raphic © 210 Gazzetta dello Sport
BMC Racing team's Brent Bookwalter set the next time barrier at 10:20, that
for some time appeared to be an unassailable lead as some of the peloton's
fastest men, came up short... he 26 year old looked to be on for his most
prestigious win.
Out on the course another duel followed with Garmin's David Miller,
Liquigas' Ivan Basso SKY's
Bradley Wiggins, Wiggins was flying over the course finishing with
the time to beat at 10:18 with Miller coming up short at six seconds
and the Liquigas leader Basso also short at 23. team mate Vincenzo Nibali
followed only ten seconds off the virtual maglia rosa Wiggins at ten seconds.
World Champion Cadel Evans followed closing in on Wiggins and Brookwalter
finishing on top of Bookwalter's time to secure his inclusion on the podium. A
great performance from the BMC squad in their first Giro appearance.
Stage 1 Results & General Classification
8.4 km - 10:18 - 48.932
1 Bradley Wiggins Team SKY - 10:18
2 Brent Bookwalter BMC Racing - 0:02
3 Cadel Evans BMC Racing - 0:02
4 Alexandr Vinokourov Astana - 0:05
5. Greg Henderson HTC/Columbia - 0:05
6 Richie Porte Saxo Bank - 0:05
7 David Miller Garmin/Transitions - 0:06
8 Gustav Larsson Saxo Bank 0:07
9 Jos Van Amden Rabobank - 009
10 Marco Pinotti HTC/Columbia - 0:09
More to come...
Celebrating our tenth year!
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