Team Giant-Shimano have traditionally finished near the bottom of the leader board in the grand tour team time trials but today they did better than usual when they finished 9th in the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia. The team has worked hard to improve in the discipline and were pleased to see the effort pay off.

Team Giant-Shimano have got their 2014 Giro d’Italia off to a strong start in this evening’s opening team time trial by taking ninth place, just 56 seconds off the stage winners Orica-GreenEDGE.

Not wanting to take to many risks on a wet and windy course, the team still powered round the course in a time of 25’38″ over the 21.7km route.

It sets the team off to a strong start as the focus now turns towards the opening flat road stages in the race, starting with tomorrow’s stage starting in Belfast where the team will be looking to set Marcel Kittel up for the first bunch sprint of the race.

Team Giant-Shimano coach, Addy Engels said after the team’s effort against the clock: “I’m really happy with how the guys rode out there today, and a top 10 in the team time trial is a nice way for us to start the Giro.

“We didn’t want to take too many risks out there as the course was very wet and accidents can easily happen when you’re on the limit but the guys did a strong ride nonetheless.

“We have worked hard on our team time trial with Adriaan Helmantel and this result shows that we have come a long way and that hard work and sticking to our plan is paying off. We need to also take these opportunities to work on this discipline in race conditions and the race itself will serve as another step in the guys’ development. So yes, I am satisfied with our result!”

“I’m happy with how that went this evening and ninth here is a good start to the race” confirmed Kittel after all the teams were finished. “It was wet and windy and so we didn’t want to take any mad risks before the main targets which start from tomorrow but we still did a strong ride together.

“I personally felt good and it gives me confidence for the days to come.”

Tom Stamsnijder added: “We can look back on our race with a good feeling. The TTT is something that we as a team are constantly working to improve with the coaches and experts and it is still a work in progress, but today we showed that we are developing in the discipline.

“A top ten means that as a team we are on a good way and now we can focus on tomorrow, and going for a sprint with Marcel, that is our thing.”