BMC Racing lived up to their expectations in the TTT.
                                               Photo: Mosna

The first leader of the 36th Giro del Trentino has a young face and wears in BMC’s colors: his name is Taylor Phinney. The American was the first of the team directed by Maximilian Sciandri to the line of the 14,3 km team time trial from Arco to Riva, rode in 15 minutes and 50 seconds. With many people expecting Marco Pinotti or former World Champion Alessandro Ballan, instead the first “wagon” of the black and red train was young prospect Phinney, that already showed his quality in the past – and lately at Paris-Roubaix.

The long wait for a Giro del Trentino as expected as ever finally ended, and the long awaited sun welcomed the fans along the road to see the it teams in action. BMC Racing Team used its great experience and the quality of specialists like Marco Pinotti to live up to their role of favorites,clocking the best time of 15.50 and edging Roman Kreuziger’s Astana (a very good trial for the Kazach outfit) while a surprising Domenico Pozzovivo’s Colnago-CSF rounded out the podium. Also Acqua&Sapone clocked a good performance, finishing 5th, 16 second behind the day’s winners. On the other hand, both Ivan Basso’s Liquigas (16.09) and Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego’s Lampre (16.13) failed to enter the top-5, the latter being penalized by a crash involving Lloyd and Possoni just passed the halfway stage.

“I am happy to have clinched the leader’s jersey with a great team performance – Taylor Phinney stated in Italian, a language he learned during the three years spent in Italy with his family as a young boy. A country he feels strongly bound to, and that brought him luck once again: “We were favorites, and everything worked out well. The route perfectly matched my characteristics, and we could reach excellent speed due to the tailwind: our mechanics made the difference today.”


       Taylor Phinney celebrates more history on the podium
                               Photo: Mosna

“I wasn’t expecting to be the first on the line – said the American, son of former professionals Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter – but after a long dig by Pinotti I took the front and just focused on giving it all and clock the best time.” Phinney knows that holding the jersey will be hard, but he hopes “to give it to one of my team mates, be it Pinotti, Ballan or Santaromita.”

Another good italian speech by Roman Kreuziger, who praised a good performance by Astana, stating the team’s ambitions even though he’s willing to act in a supporting role: “We are happy for today’s display, and of course of taking the best climber’s jersey. Can I win the Trentino? I am supposed to hit the best condition later, but I want to help Brajkovic.”

Colnago-CSF can be happy with an unexpected third place. Angelo Pagani, the first sprint classification leader, said: “We wanted to keep close to the strongest, and we managed to do so very well. It’s a very important result for Domenico Pozzovivo in an overall classification perspective.”

Tomorrow’s second stage, 152 km from Mori to Sant’Orsola Terme, will start at 9.45. Live broadcast of Raisport2 and Eurosport, 13.00-14.30 CET.