Team Colombia-Coldeportes knew that picking a climbing-devoted line-up for Giro del Trentino Melinda would have meant facing a very hard obstacle in the opening, pan-flat 13,300 km team time trial from Riva del Garda to Arco. Under a bright sun in an amazing day on Garda Trentino, German Bora-Argon 18 provided the big upset of the day, seeing off Team Sky for a matter of hundredths of seconds to give home-guy Cesare Benedetti the first leader’s jersey of the race. Bora and Sky both finished with a 14.05 time, while Astana was third with 14.09.

The Escarabajos were 15th on the day with 14.58, 53 seconds behind the winners, with designated leader Rodolfo Torres crossing the line in first. With a very light line-up, packed with short-sized climbers, the Colombians had a hard time keeping the pace up in an extremely fast time trial, with tail wind weakening towards the end of the race.

“It was clearly a very hard race for us," Rodolfo Torres told afterwards. "Our goal was to contain the gap as much as we could, but our terrain comes tomorrow. The second stage’s profile looks very promising: I have got really close to the win in Castilla y Leon, no doubt we will try to pursue our first again here in Trentino.”

Tomorrow the Giro del Trentino Melinda faces the first uphill finish: Dro-Brentonico, 168 km, will feature the very tough ascent to Monte Velo, ahead of the final climb into the Monte Baldo national park. Definitely a day for climbers, and the Escarabajos will be looking to leave a mark right away.