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Stage 1 of the 2015 Giro D’Italia was a 17.6 km team time trial which took the riders on a journey from San Loreno Al Mare to Sanremo.
Australian-licensed team Orica Green Edge took out the stage in flying colours and proved once again to be the undisputed kings of the Team Time Trial after past successes in last year’s Giro D’Italia, the Tour De France and more recently the 2015 Tour of Romandie.
With the Australian team winning the stage the next question was who were they going to put in the pink leader’s jersey should they manage to hold onto their lead. With 6 riders still in their front group at the end of their race after 3 riders had dropped off earlier in the stage because of the amount of work they were doing, Simon Gerrans came to the front to lead the team across the line. When Orica managed to hold on Gerrans was the man to wear the pink jersey.
The early leaders on the day came as a surprise in Team Astana who are riding at the 2015 Giro d’italia for Fabio Aru. They managed to hold the lead all the way until the Orica Green Edge line up arrived at the finish line despite three of the pre race favourites in Sky, Etixx Quickstep and BMC Racing going in between after Astana were the fourth team to finish on the stage.
When Orica crossed the finish line they were 19 seconds faster than the time of Team Astana. With only 2 teams left out on course that could challenge Orica it was going to be a nervous wait. When Katusha crossed the line behind they could breathe a fraction easier however Saxo Tinkoff were flying on course and had beaten the time of Orica at the intermediate check point on course.
However Saxo fell apart in the second half of the race and even Alberto Contador lost the wheel of his team mates for a period of time making them slow down and wait. When they crossed the line 13 seconds behind Orica the party could start.
What Saxo Tinkoff did make sure they did was put time into all their General Classification opponents. Three seconds into Astana and Fabio Aru, twelve seconds in to Etixx Quickstep and Rigoberto Uran and most importantly twenty seconds into Richie Porte and Team Sky who were well off the pace and performed below what they would have expected.
The biggest underachievers of the day were undoubtedly Cannondale Garmin looking after the interests of Canadian Ryder Hesejdal. Finishing almost a minute off the pace in 19th place, whatever small chance he had of a high finish seems to have slipped away a little bit further after their performance.
All the teams however, will be happy there were no crashes on the narrow course.
At the end of the day thought it was Orica Green Edge throwing the party after winning Stage 1 and the first pink jersey of the 2015 Giro d’Italia.