Sky produced a master-class in team time-trialling to take the second stage and put 23-year-old Salvatore Puccio – the team’s best-placed finisher on stage one – into pink in his maiden Giro. Puccio, a former winner of the under-23 Tour of Flanders, was on cloud nine – a pink cloud nine. Continue reading
Anyone who says a team time trial doesn’t matter in the bigger picture of a three-week race is kidding themselves. Last year, when seconds truly did count on the final day, Ryder Hesjedal must have been thankful that Garmin-Sharp had won stage 4’s TTT and taken those five seconds off Joaquim Rodriguez’s Katusha team. This year could hold the same late dramas so the big GC teams will want to do well here. The twisty, undulating parcours on the north side of the tiny volcanic island of Ischia isn’t long so, barring any disastrous team fails, the top teams should be pretty tight in the standings.