The opening team time trial stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico went the way of the World Champions, BMC Racing. Etixx-Quickstep were the 2nd fastest team and FDJ finished in 3rd position.
The 22km course that started and finished in Lido di Camaiore was really fast and not all that technical with just a handful of corners on route. This meant that some really fast times were posted with very little room for error being accommodated. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka were the 3rd team to start on the day, meaning there were no benchmark times from which to gauge our effort.
At the finish, our African Team came across the line in a time of 24’58”. With the other World Tour teams aiming at our time, we would eventually place 15th out of 23 teams. Despite our Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka riders averaging 54.5km/h during the stage, BMC Racing stopped the clock 1’03” before us to place their rider, Daniel Oss, in the race leader’s jersey.
Attention will be focused on the upcoming road stages where our African Team are motivated to stand on the top step of the podium.
Kristian Sbaragli – Rider
