U.S. team BMC Racing crossed the line with the fastest time in the Stage One team time trial of the Giro del Trentino cycling race Tuesday, and Taylor Phinney won the leader’s jersey for leading the team across the line. BMC finished the 14.3-km course in 15 minutes, 50 seconds, ten seconds ahead of the time of second-place Astana.
Liquigas and Lampre, the two toughest teams in the event, made poor showings. Liquigas started fast but faded, finishing sixth, while Lampre lost two riders in a crash halfway through and finished eighth.
The four-day Giro del Trentino is a tune-up for climbers planning to contest the Giro d'Italia, May 5–May 27. With four stages: a team time trial and three climbing finishes, this event is all about going uphill.
The 512-km course winds through the Dolomite mountains of northeast Italy. The Dolomites, the southern and of the Alps reach some serious altitudes; Stage Four finishes at 2239 meters (7345 feet) so the air will be thin and cold while the legs and lungs will be burning.
Stage One is a mostly flat 14.3-km team time trial, a quarter-hour warm-up for the climbs of the coming days.
Stage Two, 152 km from Mori to Sant'Orsola Terme/Val dei Mòcheni has a long 5.3 percent Cat 2 climb followed immediately by a short 7.4 percent Cat 1 burst to 1449 meters (4754 feet,) a 20 km descent and ten km at 5.7 percent to the finish line.
Stage Three, 168 km from Pergine Coop. Piccoli Frutti to Brenzone Punta Veleno, is not an actual mountaintop finish; the stage ends with a 2.5 km descent from the very steep (15 percent) final climb. There is a cat 2 climb at the 100-km mark to warm the riders up for the final Hors Categorie blast.
Stage Four, the final and longest stage stretches 178 km from Castelletto Di Brenzone to Passo Pordoi Val di Fassa in an almost constant climb, ending with the Cat 1 climb up Passo Pordoni, eleven km at 5.7 percent. Riders will use whatever they have left in their legs here; with nothing but recovery scheduled for the next day, everyone will be showing their best climbing forms here.
Many riders move from the Giro del Trentino to the Tour of Romandie and then directly to the 21-stage Giro d'Italia, one of three Grands Tours on the season’s cycling schedule.
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