The first stage of the Giro d'Italia was a successful one for the Gerolsteiner team, which had Sven Krauss in the main break of the day together with Veneberg, Zanini, and Scarselli. Krauss was coming off a solid prologue ride, where he finished 10th at 2 seconds, and thus was the virtual Maglia Rosa until he got caught with 40 km to go after nearly 150 km out in front. But didn't come away empty handed, as he won the Intergiro sprint at km 92 and therefore the first maglia azzurra of the Giro.
It didn't all go Gerolsteiner's way though, as sprinter Robert Förster punctured with 12 km to go, and although he did rejoin the peloton, he was unable to move up to contest the tough finish. "His puncture happened at a very unfortunate time," said Gerolsteiner's DS Christian Henn. "But we mustn't make anything from this, this finale was actually not for a pure sprinter. Nevertheless, we showed our teeth, with Sven Krauss standing on the stage podium, and tomorrow he will have a leader's jersey at the start. That is already quite good."
