With a World Class team effort Team CSC managed to win the 38-kilometer team time trial in the Giro d’Italia from Piacenza to Cremona. The team had all the best split times, but in the end it was a very narrow margin between first and second. T-Mobile was only one second behind Team CSC, while the gap was quite big (39 seconds) on Discovery Channel in third place.

The victory of Team CSC

”It was a victory we have been aiming at for a long time. It’s the essence of team work, so of course it’s a huge win for us. To ride a great team time trial requires discipline and the ability to communicate, and the riders showed just that today, so I’m obviously very proud. After a less than satisfying prologue, we have now confirmed we have a great team, which will be able to help Ivan all the way to Milan in this Giro,” said Bjarne Riis after the victory.

What Ivan Basso said after the victory

”It was an important victory for us and it was an awesome feeling standing on the podium as a team. Everyone contributed with all they had, and it means a lot to me to have such a strong team behind me here in the Giro. Today it was all about taking the victory as a team and show people how we are able to work together and accomplish something big. Just as expected it was a close race, so in the overall standings maybe the results won’t mean a lot, but I can assure you it means a lot for us as a team and the assignment we are on as team mates,” said Team CSC’s captain Ivan Basso after the stage.

Sergei Gonchar (T-Mobile) now leads the Giro d’Italia, six seconds ahead of Team CSC’s Jens Voigt. Ivan Basso is fifth, a further five seconds behind.