photo credit @ Team Movistar
Adriano Malori (Movistar) once again showed-off his time-trailing prowess, after winning the opening individual time trial event at this year’s Tirreno- Adriatico today.
The Italian rider went on the beat Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) by a mere second over today’s mostly flat 5.4 kilometer route in Lido di Camaiore, Italy.
Meanwhile, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) finished with the 3rd fastest time, to round out the podium.
“I’m really happy because I really didn’t expect to win, and to beat Cancellara — who is a great rider — makes it even more special,” said Malori. “I’m super happy. This was really one victory I couldn’t even dream of.
“I am working to improve in the time trial, but riders such as [Tony] Martin, [Bradley] Wiggins, Cancellara, and [Tom] Dumoulin are better than me. I hope to be one of the best ones in the world in the coming years.”
Malori recorded with an impressive average speed of 53.40/kph with a final time of 6:04, while defending champion, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) finished in 61st position, 19 seconds behind the leader.
Additionally, other race favorites, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), finished a further 2 seconds behind the Spanish rider, while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) put in the best time of the top GC riders, at only 11 seconds off of Malori’s time.
“I would have liked to have done better, some days you have good legs, and others, you don’t,” Contador told reporters at the finish. “Right from the start, I couldn’t find my rhythm. At the end of the day, it’s only 5km, and I lost some time to Uran and Nibali, but I hope I can recover those seconds.
“Surprised at Nibali? No, we know that Nibali is a great rider. His form will be growing, and he will be one of the top favorites to win the race. Sure, eight seconds count, especially in races like Tirreno and Paris-Nice, so they are very valuable. We’ll see if there’s a chance to gain them back. Terminillo something else? Well, let’s hope so, but Terminillo is still a few days away, so we have to go day-to-day, and we’ll see what the final result ends up to be.”
“Wearing the ‘maglia azzurra’ in such a beautiful, important race makes me really happy,” said the new race leader, Malori. “It’s undoubtedly one of the wins I will appreciate the most at the end of my career. It would be nice to keep it for as long as possible, but we into the team have a strong contender for the GC in Nairo [Quintana], so we will work for the next two days to keep [the jersey] but always staying focused on protecting him and helping him out where possible.”
Tirreno-Adriatico continues tomorrow with a 153-kilometer stage from Camaiore to Cascina.
Stage 1 Results ITA 1 MALORI, Adriano (MOVISTAR) 6:04 SUI 2 CANCELLARA, Fabian (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1 BEL 3 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 2 POL 4 BODNAR, Maciej (TINKOFF – SAXO) AUT 5 BRANDLE, Matthias (IAM CYCLING) ITA 6 OSS, Daniel (BMC RACING) + 4 LTU 7 NAVARDAUSKAS, Ramunas (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 5 GBR 8 CUMMINGS, Stephen (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 6 SVK 9 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) FRA 10 LE BON, Johan (FDJ) + 8 NOR 11 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (MTN – QHUBEKA) NED 12 TERPSTRA, Niki (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ESP 13 CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS, Jonathan (MOVISTAR) UKR 14 GRIVKO, Andriy (ASTANA) + 9 FRA 15 GAUDIN, Damien (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ESP 16 IRIZAR ARANBURU, Markel (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 10 GER 17 GESCHKE, Simon (GIANT – ALPECIN) COL 18 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) AUS 19 HEPBURN, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 11 CRC 20 AMADOR BAKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR) NED 21 POELS, Wouter (SKY) SUI 22 MORABITO, Steve (FDJ) NED 23 WESTRA, Lieuwe (ASTANA) NED 24 KEIZER, Martijn (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) ESP 25 HERRADA LOPEZ, Jesus (MOVISTAR)
General Classification after Stage 1 ITA 1 MALORI, Adriano (MOVISTAR) 6:04 SUI 2 CANCELLARA, Fabian (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1 BEL 3 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 2 POL 4 BODNAR, Maciej (TINKOFF – SAXO) AUT 5 BRANDLE, Matthias (IAM CYCLING) SUI 6 WYSS, Danilo (BMC RACING) + 4 LTU 7 NAVARDAUSKAS, Ramunas (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 5 GBR 8 CUMMINGS, Stephen (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 6 SVK 9 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) FRA 10 LE BON, Johan (FDJ) + 8
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