Rabobank dominant in Tirreno-Adriatico team time trial

The Rabobank team continued their impressive run of results by dominating the opening team time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico, securing the first leader’s jersey for Lars Boom and opening a useful time gap on all the other overall contenders for team leader Robert Gesink.

Rabobank was the first team to start the flat, out and back course and set a time of eighteen minutes and eight seconds. They covered the 16.8km course at an average of over 55km/h.

Garmin-Cervelo started hesitantly but finished strong to take second place at nine seconds, HTC-Highroad was third at ten seconds and Saxo Bank-SunGard was fourth with a time of 18:19.

The Rabobank team included strong time trialists Sebastian Langeveld, Tom Leezer, Bram Tankink and Maarten Wynants. Boom won the prologue at the Tour of Oman and this team time trial victory is Rabobank’s twelfth victory of the 2011 season. Boom was first to cross the line for Rabobank and so pulled on the first sky blue race leader’s jersey.

Overall contenders lose precious seconds

RCS Sport, the organisers of Tirreno-Adriatico, caused a surprise by introducing an opening team time trial and a final individual time trial to this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico route. It reduced the number of stages suited to the sprinters to just two but makes the race more suited to stage race riders.

Most of the big-name sprinters have still opted for Tirreno-Adriatico for their final build-up to Milan-San Remo but the race will also see Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), Marco Pinotti (HTC-Highroad), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) fight for overall success.

Rabobank’s victory has already boosted Gesink’s overall chances and damaged those of several key rivals.

Liquigas-Cannondale finished a solid fifth in the team, but that meant Basso lost 22 precious to Gesink. BMC was sixth, leaving Cadel Evans 26 seconds behind, while Leopard Trek was seventh at 29 seconds. World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara did long turns on the front but his Luxembourg team finished off the pace with a time of 18:37.

Michele Scarponi’s Lampre-ISD team lost 37 seconds, while 2010 Tirreno-Adriatico winner Stefano Garzelli lost 47 seconds after Acqua & Sapone was only twelfth. Giovanni Visconti chances also now looked slim after Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli were seventeenth, losing 55 seconds.

Some riders also took a physical battering. Omega Pharma-Lotto set a time of 18:49 to finish 11th but sprinter Andre Greipel was unable to make a full contribution to his team’s effort after crashing while warming up for the team time trial. He started the time trial with the left side of his face covered in bandages.

Time bonuses will now become a key factor in the battle for overall victory. Ten, six and four seconds are awarded at the end of road stages and time bonuses of three, two and one second are awarded at intermediate sprints.

Thursday’s second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico is over 202km from Carrara to Arezzo in the heart of Tuscany. It is expected to finish with a bunch sprint with local resident Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek) surely hoping to final land his first win of the season.