Giro d'Italia: Orica-GreenEdge win stage one as Simon Gerrans leads

Orica-GreenEdge won the Giro's team time trial for the second year in a row

Alberto Contador made early gains on his rivals for overall victory at the Giro Italia after his Tinkoff-Saxo team finished second to Orica-GreenEdge on the opening stage’s team time trial.

Orica-GreenEdge stopped the clock on a 17.6km course from San Lorenzo al Mare to San Remo on the Mediterranean coast in a time of 19min 26sec, which was seven seconds faster than Tinkoff-Saxo and 13 seconds ahead of third-placed Astana.

Simon Gerrans was Orica-GreenEdge’s first rider over the finish line and consequently becomes the first wearer of the leader’s pink jersey in this year’s race.

Team Sky could only finish 27 seconds down in ninth place, which means team leader Richie Porte is 20 seconds behind Contador in the general classification.

Rigoberto Uran’s Etixx – Quick-Step were fourth on the day, 19 seconds down, which leaves the Colombian 12 seconds down on Contador.

Simon Gerrans became the first leader of this year's race

Contador, however, did not look comfortable and was momentarily distanced by his team-mates, who subsequently had to slow down in order to allow him to catch back up.

It was the second year in succession that Orica-GreenEdge have won the Giro’s team time trial and with the next three stages all poised to finish in some form of sprint, they are looking to keep the pink jersey until Wednesday's mountainous fifth stage.

Gerrans said: “What an honour to have the pink jersey. All my victories are due to fantastic teamwork and none more so than this jersey. We have a few guys who are specialists in the team. They really drove the pace and everybody fully committed to the plan.”

Orica-GreenEdge general manager Matt White added: "It's really great for the team because the pressure is gone. Our No 1 objective was to win today, and now we go on the hunt for stages. Simon has had a horrible year with injuries but he is in very good shape and it's only fitting that he has the maglia rosa today. I would like to keep the pink jersey to Abetone [on stage five]."

The race continues on Sunday with a 177km sprint stage from Albenga to Genova.

Stage one result

1 Orica-GreenEdge, 19:26

2 Tinkoff-Saxo, +7secs

3 Astana, +13

4 Etixx – Quick-Step, +19

5 Movistar, +21

6 IAM Cycling, +25

7 BMC Racing, same time

8 FDJ.fr, +26

9 Team Sky, +27

10 Katusha, st

General classification

1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 19:26

2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, same time

3 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

4 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge, st

5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

6 Johan Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, st

7 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Tinkoff-Saxo, +7secs

8 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo, st

9 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo, st

10 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, st