Omega Pharma-Quickstep wins Tirreno TTT

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The Omega Pharma-Quickstep team extended its lead in its rivalry with Orica-GreenEdge in the team time trial, besting the Australian team by 11 seconds to take the opening victory in Tirreno-Adriatico.

Mark Cavendish led the squad across the line in 20:13 for the 18.5km test from Donoratico to San Vincenzo, and thereby becomes the first leader of Tirreno-Adriatico for the second consecutive year.

"You have to get everything perfect to win a team time trial and so it's always more rewarding when you pull it off and you get to stand on the podium together," Cavendish said.

It is the fifth time that Cavendish has led a major race after his team won an opening team time trial: before last year's Tirreno-Adriatico, he pulled on leader's jerseys in the Giro d'Italia twice (2009, 2011) and Vuelta a Espana (2010).

"It's good to start off with a win," Cavendish said. "It's going to build our morale. We want to do well in the sprints, we want to do well in the mountains stages and we want to do well in the GC too. We're ready. We'll cover all our bases and see what happens."

The victory of Omega Pharma was not simply a matter of taking the blue jersey - which they stand to hold the next two, largely flat stages - but also of putting distance between its GC leaders - Michal Kwiatkowski, who donned the best young rider's jersey, and Rigoberto Uran - and the rest of the overall contenders. The first mountain test on stage 4 will be crucial for the pair, and Kwiatkowski was happy to have a buffer.

"I'm thankful for my teammates, they gave their all," Kwiatkowski said after the finish. "I'm happy with the effort we did, it's amazing.

"Before Tirreno, I said we cannot win the race here, but we can lose some seconds. We gained some seconds before the mountain stages, which is important for the GC. I'm really happy. We want to enjoy it."

Movistar's Nairo Quintana is the closest to the Quickstep pair, only 18 seconds back, while Tinkoff-Saxo did well to limit Alberto Contador's losses to just 24 seconds.

Even Ivan Basso kept himself within shouting distance, his Cannondale team slotting in fifth at 26 seconds behind OPQS, while Team Sky was a hair's breadth further behind, leaving Richie Porte with 27 seconds to make up.

André Greipel will have to pull off something special to contend for the blue jersey in the sprints over the next two stages, as his Lotto Belisol finished off the pace in seventh, at 28 seconds.

Former Tirreno-Adriatico winner Cadel Evans was poorly supported by his BMC team, which finished 47 seconds off the pace, leaving him with quite a bit of catching up to do. Chris Horner (Lampre-Merida) fared even worse, and now sits at 53 seconds.

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