Tirreno: Rabobank Off to Strong Start

Team Time Trials are probably the easiest type of race to recap. It's just a matter of which team works the best together and who has more riders left at the finish.

Rabobank was the top team today (as many expected they would be) as they were lead by some superb time trial talent like Lars Boom and Sebastian Langeveld.

Boom will wear yellow tomorrow, but even more important is that GC contender Robert Gesink will start at the same time as him. 2,3,and 4th place teams Garmin, HTC, and Saxo Bank don't really have serious GC contenders on them so in perspective Gesink picked up some very valuable time on his climbing opponents.

Ivan Basso's Liquigas team rolled in 5th, Cadel Evans and BMC 6th, and Cancellara managed to (almost by himself) drag Andy Schleck and the Leopard Trek squad to 7th.

They all kept the deficit to under 30 seconds, but another title contender was not so lucky. Joaquin Rodriguez and his Katusha squad struggled a bit today and lost 53 seconds to Gesink and substantial time to Basso, Evans, Schleck, and Boasson-Hagen as well.

It doesn't seem like much now, but that time can become very valuable considering the limited opportunities for the climbers in this race.

Since all of the main contenders finished with their teams, I will list the results by team.

Results

1. Rabobank Cycling

2. Garmin-Cervelo -9

3. HTC-Highroad -10
4. Saxo Bank-Sungard -11

5. Liquigas-Cannondale -22

6. BMC Racing -26

7. Leopard-Trek -29

8. Team Radioshack -30

9. Sky Procycling -33

10. Lampre-ISD -37

11. Omega Lotto -41

12. Acqua and Sapone -47

13. Vacansoleil-DCM -51

14. Team Astana -51

15. Movistar Team -51

16. Katusha Team -53

17. Farnese-Vini -55

18. AG2R La Mondiale -57

19. QuickStep -1:08

20. Euskaltel-Euskadi -1:13

Stage 2

Day for the sprinters tomorrow. I'd keep an eye on Cav.