Jacques Janse van Rensburg got the Giro del Trentino off to a good start for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung yesterday.

The South African was in the break group of the day in the first half-stage of the Giro del Trentino, and finished the stage in seventh place, and after the team time trial in the second half-stage, moved up to fourth place overall.

'Fantastic start to Giro del Trentino for our team with Jacques being in the breakaway all day after only arriving in Europe a few days ago. He, along with most of the team, have just arrived from South Africa and only rode together once before heading to the race”, said team principal Doug Ryder. “They rode an exceptional TTT too to bring Jacques up to 4th overall which will give them some confidence for the rest of the tour.”

In the morning's half-stage, Janse van Rensburg was part of an eight-man group which got away early and stayed away so well that winner Maxime Bouet (AG2R) crossed the finish line nearly seven minutes ahead of the peloton.

The afternoon saw a 14.1km team time trial, won by Team Sky in a time of 15:20. MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung crossed the line in 16:11, putting the team in 11th place. However, Janse van Rensburg had built up such a lead in the earlier stage that he not only retained a top ranking in the GC, but moved up from seventh overall to fourth, only 44 seconds out of first place.

On Wednesday the climbing specialists are called for, with the start of the second stage taking place in Silian in Austria's East Tyrol. The 224 km course with the difficult mountaintop finish on the Vetriolo Terme (category 1) also features the 1,800 meter high Passo Lorenze (category 1).