Tuft in pink as Orica-GreenEdge wins Giro d'Italia opener

Orica-GreenEdge made use of a perfect storm to win the opening stage of the 2014 Giro d’Italia in Belfast on Friday. The Australian WorldTour team, who claimed the win in the same discipline at the Tour de France last summer, posted a time of 24:42 over the 21.7km course with Svein Tuft crossing the line first to secure the maglia rosa on his 37th birthday.

Rigoberto Uran and his Omega Pharma QuickStep team finished second, five second down, with Cadel Evans and his BMC teammates in third, seven seconds adrift of Orica-GreenEdge. However, both teams were forced to contend with wet roads after a rain shower blighted a gripping opening stage.

There was heartbreak for Garmin-Sharp’s general classification contender and home favourite Dan Martin. The Irishman crashed out of the race with a suspected broken collarbone. Although the team's other GC man, 2012 Giro d'Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal, finished safely with four others, his team’s race hangs in tatters after they lost 3:26 in the stage.

Martin’s crash certainly overshadowed the result, but Orica-GreenEdge will care little for that as they bask in the first maglia rosa of this year’s race. They have developed as specialists in team time trials and entered the race as favourites. They certainly rode with intent, setting off second after Team Colombia had kick-started this year’s edition of the race.

However by the time Tuft and his teammates had crossed the line the weather had changed dramatically with grey skies gathering before a downpour ensued.

The difficult conditions played havoc with the teams that started soon after, with Katusha and Movistar both forced to hold back on a number of wet corners. Joaquim Rodriguez’s Katusha team finished the day in 19th place, conceding well over a minute to his closet rivals. Nairo Quintana fared somewhat better, and although his team looked rather sketchy on a number of corners they will be satisfied to have limited their losses to less than a minute.

Orica GreenEdge had lost Mitchell Docker early on but Tuft, allied with the firepower of Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, and Brett Lancaster marshalled the team through. They had set up a training camp specifically for the TTT and it clearly paid off as they whistled through the technical sections the course challenged them with.

Tuft, 37 today, came through the final bend on the front. He looked around his teammates clearly aware of their eagerness to lead them home.

"What an amazing day. I never imagined something like this would happen. I'm so proud of the team and can't thank them enough," he said at the finish.

"They gave me the gift, it was really a birthday present. This team is really selfless that way. I feel really fortunate to be given that gift on my birthday."

Tuft, somewhat of a time trial journeyman, has been with the team since their inception and helped them pick up important time trial wins at Tirreno and last year's Tour. He becomes only the second Canadian rider to wear the maglia rosa.

However victory wasn't a complete certainty. The rain eased in the second half of the stage and although Movistar, Sky and Katusha saw the worst of the weather, BMC, QuickStep and Astana were still to come.

With drier roads and a target to aim for at the top of the leader board all three set out with purpose. BMC, fresh from their triumph at Trentino, were brimming with confidence. Evans a genuine contender for overall victory marshalled his men, holding them to within touching distance throughout the stage.

QuickStep, although lacking their big guns, know how to ride team events and at the Stormont time check they were just 14 seconds down on the leaders. That became 11 at the second time check.

Garmin were in the mix, and around 40 seconds down as they carved through the intermediate sections of the course. Then disaster hit. A pothole, a manhole, it matters so little now, but all of a sudden the armada were scattered. Four hit the deck and as the cameras panned round and watched as three men quickly moved to their feet we were left with Dan Martin, sitting up but cupping his right shoulder.

There was little time for reflection as teams raced past the fallen rider and towards the finish. Up ahead both QuickStep and BMC clawed back a few more seconds but it wasn't enough. GreenEdge held on, and Evans and Uran began their race with near-perfect rides. As for Martin it's over almost as soon as it began.

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