BMC start Tirreno-Adriatico on a high note

For the third year running, BMC Racing Team won the inaugural team time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico with an advantage of four seconds over Mitchelton - Scott and nine seconds over Team Sky. For the second year in a row, Italy’s Damiano Caruso crossed the line in first position to take the overall lead.

BMC ina action on Stage 1 of Tirreno-Adriatico. Source: Getty

"There is always a lot of satisfaction for us to win here," Caruso said. "This was our first goal of the race, and we did a lot of work to be ready for it so, we are happy."

"The weather was good and the roads too. The parcours is really fast, but we have the right guys to be able to ride fast. The teamwork was excellent. The whole team, staff and riders, were amazing. All of BMC Racing Team worked really hard.

"I think it was hard for every team today, but we kept pushing to the finish. We went à bloc, and we are happy. I am not sure if there was less wind for us in the final, but for sure, we had a strong group of riders.

"This is one of my favorite races because we are in Italy and it is always a pleasure to race here. Without Richie Porte, it is more difficult for us to win the race but I will take it day by day, and we will see what happens from now on.

"We have a few objectives with a couple of stages suiting Greg Van Avermaet, and I want to try and fight for the GC but without any pressure or stress. I just want to take it day by day and see where I end up."

Damiano Caruso. Source: Supplied

Stage 1

1. BMC Racing Team 21.5km in 22min 19sec, average speed 57.804kph

2. Mitchelton - Scott at 4sec

3. Team Sky at 9sec

General classification

1. Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing Team)

2. Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team)

3. Patrick Bevin (BMC Racing Team)