The Geox-TMC team finished an uninspiring eighteenth in the Giro d’Italia’s opening team time trial, losing 53 seconds to stage winners HTC-Highroad. More importantly though, team leaders Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov lost a whole bunch of seconds to their main rivals in the overall standings, with almost all of the pretenders to the final pink jersey faring far better.
Despite the lost time though, Sastre is upbeat about the team’s performance, reasoning that there is a long way to go in the race.
“The time trial went well for us,” he said. “We always hoped for a better result and to be a little further ahead, but then we saw that the times were similar. Apart from the first two teams, the results were seconds apart for the rest of us. In an Italian Giro of these characteristics, it may seem like a lot now, but further ahead it will be a lot less”
While the Geox-TMC team was already a long way behind the leaders at the midway checkpoint after 9.1km, the team picked it up in the closing kilometres.
“We have lost time in the first part of the stage,” said Sastre, “but in the second part, we performed better and with a lot more organisation. We finished together, none of us took a fall, and that is very important to take on this Giro with a good outlook and to be able to look towards the future, although we should not lose sight of the present.”
Sastre is pleased to have got the Giro d’Italia under way, like many of the riders, after all the build up.
“At the beginning of one of these big races I always say the same,” he said, “because after such a long introduction with presentations and preparations, we have finally done the team time trial
“A lot of circumstances have contributed to making us busy most of the time and meaning that we were aware of a lot of things that are really important before starting a race like the Giro d’Italia. From now on, we just need to think about the race.”
With no invitation to the Tour de France, the Giro will be Geox-TMC’s biggest race of the year; although it will likely receive an invite to the Vuelta a España. Menchov is aiming at a repeat of his 2009 victory, while 2008 Tour winner Sastre has sworn to support him in his quest.
Both riders will look to spend a quiet time in the flat stages to come, saving their energy for the many upcoming mountains in the race.