Halfway through stage 1 in Quinto the wind kicked up and played a crucial role in determining the outcome and the winner of the individual time trial as the Tour de Suisse kicked off today, leaving the riders who started in the latter half no choice but to wait for tomorrow before they can gauge their form.

Starting fourth from the last, home crowd favourite Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) was severely hampered by the wind as he attempted to claim the overall lead, but he was still able to take 16th place, 22 seconds behind winner Cameron Meyer (Orica GreenEdge). 

Obviously Cancellara was in a dejected mood after the opening of the stage race in his native country: “No results today so I’m somewhat disappointed,” the former world time trial champion said on the team website. “In the end when I came to the car I saw I’d done the maximum.  I did a great race against the other favourites, but without a result.  That’s sport.  The luck was not on my side, but I still feel confidence.  My feelings were also good – I was riding close to the limit and that’s always important.  It was reassuring.”

Team director Kim Andersen added:  “For sure we’re disappointed with the weather change, which makes it hard to evaluate everyone’s performances.  Klodi, Maxime and Andy were all actually very good, even though the results don’t make it look that way.  It’s hard to analyse it but I think they did well.”