The Giro d'Italia organisation has just released the starting order for the race's first stage, a 21.7 km team time trial around Belfast.

The first team down the start ramp will be Colombia at 17:50 GMT, followed by the main favourites for the stage win, Orica-GreenEdge. Normally the favourite teams start late, but the weather in Northern Ireland can be quite volatile. If it starts to rain during the race, teams starting later may quickly find themselves losing valuable seconds on slippery roads.

Tinkoff-Saxo with Irish Nicolas Roche (and Irish-born Christopher Juul-Jensen) start third, while another of the favourites, Movistar Team, is the sixth team in line.

The other teams looking for a good result will start in the second half of the field: Team Sky (with Philip Deignan) go down the ramp as 13th team at 18:45, Garmin-Sharp (with Dan Martin) follow 25 minutes later as number 17. BMC Racing Team are fourth-to-last, starting at 19:20, and the stage will be back-ended by wildcard selection Neri Sottoli, who are expected to finish around 20:00 GMT.

Starting order for the stage 1 TTT of the 2014 Giro d'Italia (all times are GMT):

17:50 Colombia

17:55 Orica-GreenEdge

18:00 Tinkoff-Saxo

18:05 FDJ.fr

18:10 Team Katusha

18:15 Movistar Team

18:20 Lotto Belisol

18:25 Trek Factory Racing

18:30 Belkin Pro Cycling Team

18:35 Team Europcar

18:40 Lampre-Merida

18:45 Team Sky

18:50 Cannondale

18:55 Team Giant-Shimano

19:00 AG2R La Mondiale

19:05 Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela

19:10 Garmin-Sharp

19:15 Bardiani-CSF

19:20 BMC Racing Team

19:25 Omega Pharma-Quick Step

19:30 Astana Pro Team

19:35 Neri Sottoli