After taking time on all of the main GC riders in the opening time trial of the Giro d’Italia, Vincenzo Nibali’s manager at Astana, Giuseppe Martinelli says his star has gained the mental advantage.

“Starting well is good for your morale,” Astana team manager Giuseppe Martinelli told VeloNews. “The 21 seconds over Mikel Landa doesn’t matter that much in terms of the overall win, but it’s the mental edge that counts. To be ahead of Mikel Landa and others is important, but we are not going to let it go to our heads.”

Nibali also acknowledged his advantage, but his manager says the key stage will be the 40km long time trial on stage nine.

“The watershed moment will be the Chianti time trial,” Martinelli added. “Before then there won’t be anything major. Okay, the Aremogna finish and maybe one other will be important, but the top riders should all be there within a handful of seconds. Chianti will be the biggest thing for us in the first two weeks of this Giro.”

Astana have sent a strong team to the Giro in order to prevent Nibali losing time in the opening week like he did at the Tour de France.

“For sure, he wants to win more and needs to win more. We built a strong team around him for the Giro. We have the strongest team possible for him here. This gives Vincenzo certainty and security,” Martinelli said. “What happened last year in the Tour’s first stages shouldn’t have happened in a team like ours.”