Omega Pharma-Quick Step crushed the opposition in yesterday's opening Tirreno-Adriatico team time trial to put Mark Cavendish in the first leader's jersey. We have already posted several reactions and have gathered a few more below.

Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana, 16th +0.54, lost 3.05 after being brought in as a late replacement for injured Fredrik Kessiakoff)

"I came home from Malaysia at noon on Saturday, and that evening got the call that I was going to start Tirreno-Adriatico – up until then I was planning to stay in Nice and train for the classics, because compared with this same time last season my form is a bit lower – but if I am training or racing, it’s all preparation for Belgium."

Roberto Reverberi (sports director Bardiani who were 20th +1.17)

”We knew our chance and value against the top world time trial teams. However, I think we did a discrete performance, looking that we arrived close to some important World Tour squads. Now we are already looking to tomorrow with stage 2 where we’ll surely be better."

Frederic Guesdon (sports director FDJ who were 10th +0.43)

"The team gave me a very good impression. All riders were very strong except Murilo Fischer who always fears a team time trial. He had bad feeling and doubts and finally let the other go.  The others were homogeneous. Even Thibaut Pinot who had complained about knee pain and had fears on Wednesday morning, kept up the speed and contributed nicely to the collective performance.

"Based on the fact that it was smooth and straight, I cannot say that we did a good race but ultimately the result speaks for itself. I can say that if the group was homogeneous, Alexandre Geniez and Arnaud Démare impressed their teammates. On Thursday, we hope that the second step to Cascina ends in a bunch sprint because we should not be far off the mark."

Jens Zemke (sports director MTN-Qhubeka who finished 21st +1.19)

“It is a bit disappointing to come 21st in the TTT but we are part of one of the biggest races worldwide, with all the big names here. We are still the underdogs in the bunch and without Linus Gerdemann, who is out with sickness, it is really tough.

“We just need to fight hard to get a good result and we must stay positive. Just focusing carefully on the race, stage by stage is what we will do. After winning a stage at the Ruta Del Sol, the team knows how it feels to win. That will be the motivation going into the next stages, we have won big races before and we are ready to win more."

You can read our preview of stage 2 here.