HTC-Highroad has won Stage 1 of the 2011 Giro d'Italia. HTC-Highroad powered over the flat, somewhat technical, 19.3-km course from Venezia Reale to Turin in 20:59. RadioShack finished second at 0:10, and Liquigas-Cannondale took third at 0:22. Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad) donned the maglia rosa.

HTC-Highroad finished with only five riders, but teams were assessed the times of their fifth riders. Pinotti, who put on the maglia rosa for the second time in his career (he also won it in 2007), said that he would have no problem with another member of the team taking the jersey in the days to come.

An important part of the team time trial was GC contenders gaining or losing time on each other. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is the best placed of the heads of state, with Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) 0:08 behind. Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) is 0:06 ahead of Contador.

Other hopefuls lost more time. Roman Kreuziger (Astana) finished 0:28 behind Nibali, while Denis Menchov and Carlos Sastre (both from Geox-TMC) ceded 0:31 to the Italian. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finished 0:42 and 0:51, respectively, behind the Liquigas rider.

Stage 2 will be the 2011 Giro's longest. The 244-km run from Alba to Parma will be flat, and it should end in a sprint. Who will win? Pinotti's teammate Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad)? Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo)? Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD)? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!