This week Rui Costa has a chance to make history as he can become the first rider to win the Tour de Suisse three years in a row. However, he got his race off to a poor start as he could only manage 28th in the opening time trial.

In 2012 and 2013 Rui Costa has headed into the Tour de France on the back of an overall victory in the Tour de Suisse and this year he is hoping to continue his impressive run of success in the Swiss race. Having shown solid condition in the GP Gippingen two days ago, he was expected to do well in today's opening time trial whose course suited him well.

However, the world champion got his race off to a bad start as he could only manage 28th and lost time to most of his key rivals for the overall win. Nonetheless, he remained upbeat and is still confident that he can become the first rider to win the race three years in a row.

"I have now done the first stage of the Tour de Suisse," he wrote on his website. "Normally the riders with bib number 1 is the last rider to start but as bad weather was forecasted from the middle of the afternoon, we decided that it was better to start early. The bad weather came but fortunately after all riders had done their time trial.

"We had to do 9.4km with start and finish in Bellinzona. There was a rather tough climb halfway through and the remaining part was descending and rolling. The course was very technical and dangerous and there were a few crashes.

"I did my best without risking too much in the dangerous places. I finished 28th, 42 seconds behind Tony Martin. It was a satsifactory result and a good test of my legs that gave me good feedback."

For Lampre-Merida, youngster Mattia Cattaneo did a fantastic time trial by finishing 10th, reaping the fruits of recent specific work with coach Michele Bartoli.