Hello to everyone, and welcome again to San Lorenzo al Mare! The 2020 Giro d'Italia will kick off in a few minutes, with the first team starting the opening team time-trial.
Most of you may well know the roads leading from San Lorenzo to Sanremo, as the riders passed by here just a few weeks ago, as these are the final 30km of Milano - Sanremo. However, the organizers decided to not use the classical course tackling Cipressa and Poggio for this TTT, hence we have a much shorter route by the seaside.
The wind should not be a factor today, as it's just 4km/h weak. However, it is indeed blowing into the riders' faces for most of the race, so if it comes down to milliseconds, it might still come into play.
We already talked about the favorites during yesterday's rider presentation, so let's not lose too many words about this. What we can see is that the bookies pretty much agree with our Top 6, placing Team Tinkoff, Team UBS and Generali on top, followed by King Power, Rakuten and Bennelong.
In the four final spots, however, they put our numbers 9 - 12, with Aker - MOT, Gazelle, EA Vesuvio and Aegon, hence seeing Moser - Sygic and Volvo further down the table.
We'll find out soon, as the first team is about to start - and it's already one of the race favorites!
Here we are, everything is ready for Team UBS to open the 2020 Giro d'Italia! The countdown is on... 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Go!
Obviously, the Swiss are then the first team to reach the split time after 7.8km, setting a reference time of 8'45". And already the next team could show us what this time is worth...
...as the next time is set by Generali, yet another of today's favorite teams! And the locals are pretty fast - faster than the now former leaders, by 6": 8'39" is the new mark!
Gazelle just made the first half of the preview list, being the 12th team there. What does that mean time-wise?
They obviously had a good start, losing just 4" to Generali, which is 2nd place. This must be quite worrying for Team UBS, as they were predicted to be clearly stronger than the Dutch formation.
And it's an even better start for Moser - Sygic, as they come just one second short of the current best time! 2nd place for the Czech team so far.
Aegon - Peroni were predicted for a mid-table finish - but it's way too early to interprete the intermediate times in this respect. They are currently last at the check point, matching the time of Team UBS, so 6" down.
Team UBS then reach the finish line, where they obviously post the best time, being the first team crossing the line. 17'15" is the first mark - but it might fall soon...
The team that took the last spot in the preview is on track so far: Air France - KLM are 28" slower than Generali at the time check - which of course puts the performances of the other teams into perspective. All previous teams were actually pretty close, with the French - Dutch formation being really far off the pace.
There will be quite a lot of interleaving between intermediate time and finish line from now on, with Generali reaching the end of the race as our second team.
They were leading Team UBS by 6" at the checkpoint - and they were able to increase the gap by another two seconds! The best time now stands at 17'06", almost 9" faster than the first team! Which likely is a good start for Spilak - at least he's already beaten Amador by a few seconds today!
Next at the checkpoint is the team that will likely be among Air France's hardest competitors for the red lantern. But the Latvians of Evonik - ELKO seem to fail their task, being already 6" faster. Which means 6th place and a 22" deficit on Generali.
Gazelle are the next team to cross the finish line. Being just 4" down at the intermediate time, they obviously had their better half first, as they post an end time of 17'17" - 11" slower, dropping behind Team UBS to 3rd.
Rakuten Pro Cycling were in the extended favorites list - but man, do they disappoint so far! They already concede 12" to Generali on the first half of the race, which is 6th place - somewhere in no-man's land. That's not a good start for Shikai and his team. But maybe they'll improve on the second half?
Barguil is hoping for a better result than his Chinese rival, and Moser - Sygic seem to support him well in this task! They are even attacking Generali's best time - which is not a surprise, as they were only 1" behind at the split!
17'03" ... 17'04" ... 17'05" ... 17'06" ... 17'07" ... 17'08" .. 17'09" - they lost 2 more seconds on the second section, which is still easily 2nd place. However, their leader had the bad idea of taking the last position, losing another 7" on his teammates, and 10" in total!
It's probably not the GT with the highest focus for Festina - OAKA, which already shows in a mediocre TTT lineup. The result: 16" down at the intermediate time, 7th place. Bongiorno won't be too pleased, but he was probably prepared for this.
Another team without a top GC contender are Aegon - Peroni. 5th at the checkpoint - 5th at the finish line. They lose 18" today, which is slightly more than one second per kilometer - that's pretty much OK. Even though it's the last place so far.
Here comes the first of two PCT wildcard teams - and at the same time the first of two teams with only 6 riders. Even though most of them are strong time trialists - will the numerical disadvantage impede them?
So far, it seems so, as they only post the 8th intermediate time, 21" down - just one second ahead of Evonik's anti-time-trialing squad!
The next team reaching the split will likely be quite a lot faster, being today's top favorites!
And they are - not one, not two, not three, but four seconds faster than Generali! Team Tinkoff - La Datcha lower the reference mark to 8'35" - now up to the others to challenge them!
But why did we actually have two teams in a row at the intermediate time check, whereas usually we alternate between that point and the finish line?
Well, the answer is because Air France - KLM gave us enough time to do so. They continued their slow run losing a total of 1'03" on Generali - fortunately they've come here mainly for hills and sprints, and not for the GC!
But can anybody beat them in terms of slowness? The next team may already be the top candidates for this...
But first, let's note down another time at the checkpoint. Indosat Ooredoo were towards the bottom of the preview list, too - and they fully live up to this prediction. 9th place, 21" back. But with Brenes preferring breakaways to sitting in the pack anyways, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Half of the teams have now ridden past this checkpoint - let's take a look at the standings:
1.
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
8'35"
7.
Rakuten Pro Cycling
+ 16"
2.
Generali
+ 4"
8.
Festina - OAKA
+ 20"
3.
Moser - Sygic
+ 5"
9.
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 21"
4.
Gazelle
+ 8"
10.
Polar
+ 25"
5.
Team UBS
+ 10"
11.
Evonik - ELKO
+ 26"
6.
Aegon - Peroni
+ 11"
12.
Air France - KLM
+ 33"
Here they are - have they slowed down enough to reach their goal, which is taking the red lantern?
To make it short - no. Evonik - ELKO lose 44" to Generali, which is still almost 20" faster than Air France. However, I still wonder how happy Chiarello is about his new team's time trial attitude...
EA Vesuvio would definitely prefer to post a good time, given their GC ambitions. And they have an OK start; losing 11" means they're just in the upper half, matching Aegon's time for 6th.
Rakuten Pro Cycling's formation isn't top notch, as there's a small gap between the 4th rider and Salcone who stops the clock in 5th position.
They lose about as much to Generali as they did in the first half, finishing 26" down in 6th position. Nothing lost yet, but Spilak has beaten yet another strong competitor in Shikai.
For once, we have two teams in a row at the finish line. Festina - OAKA were 16" behind Generali at the intermediate checkpoint - and they are 32" down at the finish line. They did a regular race - but not a fast one. As expected, to be honest. And with Bongiorno, yet another team leader losing quite a lot of seconds to Spilak, Barguil and Amador.
Now it's time for the next team at the split. ISA - Hexacta reach this point with quite a hefty deficit, though, as they are already 20" down. That's the 9th position, posting the same time as Festina - next to which they were listed in the preview, so that time isn't a surprise, either.
Here's the team Spilak will be waiting for impatiently, given that his presumed main rival Taaramäe is part of the Aker - MOT squad.
We estimated the formation to be slightly weaker than Generali - and so it is by the time they reach the checkpoint. They're in 5th place, 9" behind Team Tinkoff and 5" behind Generali - not really worrying for Taaramäe, but it's still not nothing.
The PCT guys from Polar posted a rather disappointing intermediate time - but they were clearly stronger on the second half! The Finnish squad takes 7th place, 29" behind Generali - meaning they only lost 8" from the split to the finish line.
But now, we have a team attacking the leading time! Team Tinkoff were 4" ahead at the split, were they able to defend this margin? Or even extend it?
16'55" ... 16'56" ... 16'57" ... 16'58" ... 16'59" - Yes, they even gained an addtional 3 seconds, taking the hot seat with a 7 second margin! The favorites absolutely lived up to the expectations, well done!
But... you can see from the picture who takes the last position - yes, it's Kritskiy. Who loses 6" to his teammates, and hence is just one tiny second ahead of Spilak in the overall standings! Not quite the best strategy from the Russians, either...
Then we again have a team with no big GC ambitions (for once) reaching the checkpoint. Isostar - Specialized will likely reserve their best TTT formation for a race where their best horse is in, so they don't have a great lineup, posting a not-so-great time as expected: 13th place, 25" down, matching exactly Polar's time.
And Team Puma - SAP is even 3 seconds slower - even behind Evonik! 16th place for the Germans, 28" down. But at least, they haven't dropped Arndt yet, who is the worst time trialist in the whole Giro peloton!
We have reached half-time, as Indosat Ooredoo cross the finish line, taking 10th place out of 12 teams so far. They lose 43" to Team Tinkoff today, which is bad for GC ambitions, but rather good for breakaway attempts. They'll probably be going for the latter, so they won't be too unhappy about this stage.
After half of the teams have finished the race, let's look at the current standings at the finish line:
1.
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
16'59"
7.
Rakuten Pro Cycling
+ 33"
2.
Generali
+ 7"
8.
Polar
+ 36"
3.
Moser - Sygic
+ 10"
9.
Festina - OAKA
+ 39"
4.
Team UBS
+ 16"
10.
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 43"
5.
Gazelle
+ 18"
11.
Evonik - ELKO
+ 51"
6.
Aegon - Peroni
+ 25"
12.
Air France - KLM
+ 1'10"
Next at the finish line are EA Vesuvio, with Girdlestone stopping the clock in 5th position. The Luxembourgers lost 11" on the first half - and 11" on the second half, making a total deficit of 22" and currently 6th place. This should be pretty much OK for Schleck, who has gained time on several competitors today, and not lost too much against the top TTT teams.
Here we have the second PCT team - and the second 6-man-squad. However, unlike Polar, Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam don't have any strong time trialist - nor any strong rider suited to the Giro course at all.
18th place so far means the last position, losing already 47" on the first 7.5 kilometers! They're definitely taking it easy today.
Given that the previous team was rather slow, we first had two teams in a row at the finish line - and now two at the checkpoint. cycleYorkshire were likely PCT's best TT team last year, but they didn't bring a very strong TT lineup for this Giro.
As a result, they only take 10th position, 20" back. Which is still somewhat better than expected, though. With no GC candidate, they can take as much time as they want anyway.
ISA - Hexacta on the other hand even have two very comparable GC riders in Ji and Anacona, hence a good time today would be important for them. But what can be counted as "good"? They come in on 10th place, 39" behind Team Tinkoff - probably rather at the lower end of their expectations. But don't ever underestimate this team - that's the learning from last year's PCT!
Bennelong - Mitchelton have a great time trialing history, and hence they're among the favorites almost every time they do a TTT. They weren't among the top teams in the preview, though.
But apparently, we didn't estimate them correctly, as they miss the best intermediate time by just one second! 2nd place for the Aussies - Haig will be very amused!
Meanwhile, Taaramäe's Aker - MOT are on the finish stretch - with the Estonian in the last position. That seems to be a recurring pattern - not the smartest one, though!
His team does pretty well, conceding 19" to Team Tinkoff, which currently is 6th place. Meaning they lost a spot from the split time to the finish.
However, even worse is Taaramäe losing time to his teammates - but unlike some other team leaders, he doesn't lose 6-7", but "just" three of them. It could have been worse...
Grieg-Maersk have quite a bunch of strong time trialists as well - but they left most of them at home (or at least didn't bring them here). As a consequence, they aren't able to attack the best time - but 10th isn't that bad, actually. They're 13" down.
Isostar - Specialized were expected to get a result near the bottom of the table - and that's what they do so far. They're currently 14th out of 16 teams, losing 48" today. Let's see how that impacts Roman's white jersey quest.
Only three teams remaining at the time check - the first of them being stage favorites King Power! The Thai formation is pretty fast, and they're absolutely in contention for the stage win! They match Bennelong's time, being even some fractions of a second faster and hence taking 2nd place!
Slower than Evonik - that's not a quality predicate when it comes down to TTTs, quite on the contrary! And so, Team Puma - SAP have tried to speed up a bit, to at least beat the Latvian squad.
Which they do, by 4 seconds. 14th place for the Germans, 47" back. Not great news if Demare wants to take the pink jersey at some point - but you never know!
eBuddy have made the trip to Italy without their undisputed stage race leader, and so they don't have very high GC ambitions. Which shows in their TTT lineup, bringing no true time trialist at all. Therefore, their 17th place at the intermediate time is a rather good result - they lost 25" so far. Which is just 1" ahead of Evonik, by the way.
And here comes the team posting by far the slowest intermediate time, 47" behind Team Tinkoff. But Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam actually improved, losing not even half of this in the second part - and with a total time of 18'08" are even one second faster than Air France, who therefore keep the red lantern. That was close, though!
We finally have the last time crossing the line at the checkpoint - and Volvo acc. by Spotify post a really good time, conceding only 9", which is the 7th fastest time!
Now that all teams have posted an intermediate time, let's take a look at the final standings at this point:
1.
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
8'35"
13.
Rakuten Pro Cycling
+ 16"
2.
King Power
+ 1"
14.
cycleYorkshire
+ 20"
3.
Bennelong - Mitchelton
+ 1"
15.
ISA - Hexacta
+ 20"
4.
Generali
+ 4"
16.
Festina - OAKA
+ 20"
5.
Moser - Sygic
+ 5"
17.
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 21"
6.
Gazelle
+ 8"
18.
eBuddy
+ 25"
7.
Volvo acc. by Spotify
+ 9"
19.
Isostar - Specialized
+ 25"
8.
Aker - MOT
+ 9"
20.
Polar
+ 25"
9.
Team UBS
+ 10"
21.
Evonik - ELKO
+ 26"
10.
EA Vesuvio
+ 11"
22.
Team Puma - SAP
+ 28"
11.
Aegon - Peroni
+ 11"
23.
Air France - KLM
+ 33"
12.
Grieg-Maersk
+ 13"
24.
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
+ 47"
The next team ending today's work is cycleYorkshire. The Brits deliver about the performance that could be expected, finishing 11th, 38" behind the still leading Team Tinkoff.
We said "still leading" because Bennelong - Mitchelton were just one second down at the intermediate time - and now?
16'55" ... 16'56" ... 16'57" ... 16'58" ... 16'59" - the Aussies post exactly the same time as the leaders, but the timekeepers tell us that they're a few milliseconds slower! 2nd place for Haig and his companions, which is still a great result and - given the intermediate times - likely a sure podium!
And - unlike other team leaders - Haig actually finished within the first five positions, meaning he really gets his team's time and therefore is 6" ahead of Kritskiy and 7" ahead of Spilak - being the best placed of the GC favorites so far!
Well, well, well... never underestimate this team in TTTs, even when they don't bring their top specialists! Grieg-Maersk have even improved on the second half, losing just 7 additional seconds to the 13" they had at the split - which is a good 8th place for them, 20" down! At least much better than the projected 15th place...
But now, let's watch the fight for the stage win! Hsu is leading his team on the final meters - can he snatch the pink jersey away from Vorobev, who was the first to cross the line from Team Tinkoff?
16'55" ... 16'56" ... 16'57" ... 16'58" - Yes, we have a new leader! King Power beat Team Tinkoff by less than one second, and are the very likely stage winners! What a great job done by the Thai team!
However - this needs to be mentioned - it was less of a great job by Reis, as he didn't finish inside the first five positions as well. Luckily for him, he just loses one second - being tied with Haig in the GC, but ranked one spot behind!
eBuddy never were anywhere near the stage win today - which was completely expected. They even drop one spot from the split to the finish line, meaning they're currently 18th, 48" down, with one last team remaining...
And this team is Volvo acc. by Spotify! After a good 7th place at the split, they were able to keep up their pace and hold on to that 7th position until the finish line - 19" behind the stage winners from King Power! Congratulations!
The Volvo boys won't be too disappointed, either, as this means that Carapaz and Faglum Karlsson are absolutely in contention, and just 19" off the lead (well, 21" for the latter - you know why...).
The stage winners just had enough time to change their jerseys and prepare for the victory ceremony, that's about to start!
And here they are, the Thai formation of King Power win today's opening TTT of the 2020 Giro d'Italia! Congratulations!
In a very, very close race, they finish one tiny second ahead of Team Tinkoff - La Datcha and Bennelong - Mitchelton. With all three teams having potential Top 10 GC contenders in their ranks, this is obviously a great start for all of them!
And let's take a look at the full final standings:
1.
King Power
16'58"
13.
Rakuten Pro Cycling
+ 35"
2.
Team Tinkoff - La Datcha
+ 1"
14.
Polar
+ 38"
3.
Bennelong - Mitchelton
+ 1"
15.
cycleYorkshire
+ 39"
4.
Generali
+ 9"
16.
ISA - Hexacta
+ 40"
5.
Moser - Sygic
+ 12"
17.
Festina - OAKA
+ 40"
6.
Team UBS
+ 18"
18.
Indosat Ooredoo
+ 44"
7.
Volvo acc. by Spotify
+ 19"
19.
Team Puma - SAP
+ 48"
8.
Gazelle
+ 19"
20.
eBuddy
+ 48"
9.
Aker - MOT
+ 19"
21.
Isostar - Specialized
+ 49"
10.
Grieg-Maersk
+ 21"
22.
Evonik - ELKO
+ 53"
11.
EA Vesuvio
+ 23"
23.
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
+ 1'10"
12.
Aegon - Peroni
+ 27"
24.
Air France - KLM
+ 1'12"
The team standings are obviously identical to today's stage result.
And here's the first Maglia Rosa of this race, as he led his team across the finish line: Hsuan Ping Hsu! He's very likely the first rider representing Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) putting on this jersey - a historical moment for cycling!
The youngster - yes, he leads the U25 standings as well - leads the race ahead of his teammates Dennis Van Winden and Yuttana Mano, who both have the same time and crossed the line in 2nd and 3rd position.
Given that the leader is himself a good sprinter - can he keep the lead after tomorrow's flat stage, or even extend it? His most serious competitor should be Meyer, who's just 4 seconds back, but Granjel Cabrera (+ 12") and Appollonio (+ 19") are still within striking distance as well. We'll see!
Now, let's get a first overview of where the Top 10 presented GC contenders currently stand after this stage:
16.
Jack Haig
+ 1"
17.
Rafael Reis
+ 1"
24.
Timofey Kritskiy
+ 7"
28.
Simon Spilak
+ 8"
40.
Andrei Amador
+ 17"
46.
Warren Barguil
+ 19"
48.
Richard Antonio Carapaz
+ 19"
79.
Rein Taaramäe
+ 23"
86.
Andy Schleck
+ 26"
102.
Chen Shikai
+ 36"
Of course, these time gaps aren't very important after just 15 out of more than 3,000 kilometers - but they are still there, giving some riders a slight head start over others. Let's see how these gaps evolve!
There are no points and mountain jerseys so far, which means that we have reached the end of today's live broadcast from the 2020 Giro d'Italia! The race is on, and we've seen a great and close first stage - let's hope for a lot more great sport in the next three weeks!
Giro d'Italia 
