Pinotti dons leader's pink jersey in Giro d'Italia

HTC-Highroad won the first stage of the Giro d'Italia after finishing 10 seconds ahead of Radioshack in the team time trial on Saturday.

Marco Pinotti took the leader's pink jersey when he led the team home in the 19.3-kilometre (11.9-mile) ride from Venaria Reale to Turin in a time of 19 minutes 59 seconds.

"I'm delighted to have done this for the team," Pinotti said. "We are an excellent team and weren't bothered about being made the favourite as we just used straightforward tactics.

"We had a plan and were able to execute it."

With renowned sprinter Mark Cavendish also in the lineup, HTC was favoured to take the stage and the riders didn't disappoint with Cavendish leading the team off the last corner before Pinotti took over. The time knocked early leader Omega Pharma-Lotto from top spot, and the win was confirmed when chief rival Radiobank failed to improve on the result.

Toronto's Michael Barry rides for Sky Procycling, which was 37 seconds back in ninth.

Vincenzo Nibali's Liquigas-Cannondale team was third, 22 seconds behind the winner, and Alberto Contador's Saxo Bank team finished eighth, 30 seconds behind HTC-Highroad.

"It was a good start for the team," Nibali said. "We kept our shape, had a great stage and did particularly well on the curves.

"It was a very quick course and we had to watch how we went."

The 21-stage Giro finishes in Milan on May 29.