After Marco Pinotti led the HTC Highroad team across the finish line yesterday, his team is hoping to chase more success today. All going to plan, Mark Cavendish will win the stage to Parma and inherit the pink jersey.
“We have a sprint and normally we can switch the jersey if Mark wins the stage,” directeur sportif Valerio Piva told VeloNation prior to the start of the team time trial, speaking about what would happen if Pinotti is in pink. “That is the nice dream that we have, but of course we have to finish [first] today.”
Piva was delighted with how things worked out yesterday and, like Pinotti, Cavendish and the others, was smiling for a long time after the finish. He and they will remain hungry, though, and chase success in the days ahead.
“Mark has a chance in the first twelve stages…there are three or four stages for sprinters,” he said, then confirming he believed the Briton had a very good sprint train to back him up. “We have three riders for the sprint here…of course Mark, then his lead-out man Mark Renshaw, and before him we have Alex Rasmussen. We also have Rabon, a fast guy, he is a time trialist so he can bring the speed high in the last five kilometres with Pinotti and Gretsch.”
Cavendish is expected to leave the race after the halfway point, keeping himself fresh for the Tour de France. There are few opportunities for non-climbers in the second part of the race. HTC Highroad will have more ambitions, though, with two riders aiming for a strong overall finish.
“We have Pinotti…like last year, he is motivated. He finished in the top ten and that is also what we think about this year. I think it is a very hard Giro this year, it is harder than last year, but he is strong, he is motivated. He finished fourth in Romadie. I think of him [for GC] and I think also of Kanstantsin Siutsov because he is agood climber, he is a strong rider in the tours and he can recover very fast. The last week is very hard and I think he can show something too.”