Team Sky Wins Giro d'Italia Team Time Trial; Puccio in the Pink
Columbia was the first starter, and the Columbians posted a time of 23:01. Ag2r-La Mondiale bettered this time by 0:06, only to see Blanco set a new standard with a 22:33. The Dutch squad kept the lead until Sky, the eighth team to start, posted what would be the day's winning time. The teams to follow did not yet know it, but they were fighting for scraps.
Movistar turned in the day's fastest first half, 10:10, but faded somewhat to settle for second. Astana entered the final km with six riders and looked like a threat to Sky's lead. The team split into two groups of three, however, and settled for third at 22:19.
More was expected of some teams than they delivered today. Observers viewed Garmin-Sharp as a possible winner, but the American squad did not have its best day, finishing seventh at 0:25. BMC is usually a good team time trial squad, but it was off-form today, taking 12th at 0:37. For the captains of those teams, Ryder Hesjedal and Cadel Evans, respectively, worries about time lost have set in.
For more than one reason, Puccio was surprised to don the maglia rosa. "Today was an incredible result, and it is a huge surprise," the 23-year-old Italian said. "I could never have thought this morning that I would be pulling on the maglia rosa. It is incredible!
"It was only two minutes before we celebrated the stage win on the podium that I realized I was the new maglia rosa. To tell the truth, we planned to put my teammate Dario Cataldo in either the maglia rosa or maglia blanca today. When they told me I was the new maglia rosa, I was a bit shocked but also very, very happy. It also happened so quickly that it really hasn't sunk in yet and I think it will be very hard to sleep tonight.
"The Giro wasn't even in my race program until a month ago, after the Tour of Flanders. My real dream is to win one of the one-day Monuments. My favorite is the Tour of Flanders."
In the overall, Puccio leads teammates Bradley Wiggins and Sergio Henao. Stage 3 will be a 222-km ride from Sorrento to Marino di Ascea that will feature two categorized climbs, including a Category 3 ascent with 20 km left that should dispatch the pure sprinters. Who will take the stage? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!
Team time trial winner Team Sky Pro Cycling and their race leader Salvatore Puccio are using the premium version of the RoadCycling.com training tracker software to track and plan their training. Want the same advantage as Team Sky, Puccio, Wiggins and co? Sign up for the premium version here. You'll also get easy login access to your training data from all pages here on RoadCycling.com.
