In the past, Giant-Shimano have often taken it easy in team time trials, preferring to save energy for later objectives. Yesterday they gave it a real shot in the Tirreno-Adriatico opener and so were disappointed with a low 17th.

The Team Giant-Shimano boys have finished the opening team time trial of this year’s Tirreno-Adriatico in 17th place, 55-seconds down on the stage winners.

Despite an average speed of 52.5kmh over the 18.5km course, the team couldn’t match the pace set by others, with the stage win going to Omega Pharma – Quickstep, and the race lead to Mark Cavendish.

Today’s stage will be a much different affair as the team looks to set up Marcel Kittel for a bunch sprint at the end of what is on paper a sprinter’s stage.

Coach, Aike Visbeek said: “We expected more of today but on a positive note we have seen the points that we can improve on – the small differences are made from small details.

“We are still focused on our main goal here, and that is the sprint stages. The guys are focused and know what they have to do tomorrow. It will be an exciting stage.”

Road captain, Roy Curvers said after the stage: “I personally was ok today, but not super. I think this was the same for most of the guys. A look at the results shows that little separates us from a lot of other teams so just shaving off a few seconds would have meant a much better result.

“I think we can be satisfied though and we now look towards the next stages and to the sprints with Marcel.”

You can read our preview of stage 2 here.