And we are underway…I’m gonna go out on a limb and pick Ganna for the win today. 
Pretty wide open GC with lots of questions around those who would normally be the favorites. I think Yates is best positioned to win overall to redeem himself for 2018. The biggest question is Bernal, who started the season in great form, but seems to have regressed since then.
And who knows what Remco is capable of in his first race back.
Ciccone is my dark horse 
My pick, Campanaerts, didn’t perform so well. Saving Ganna for the final TT in the CyclingTips fantasy league (you can only pick each rider once).
I like Ciccone, too…with all the openness in the GC race, a rider like him can sneak away and gain time.
If he makes it to Milan!! The last week is pretty brutal…
Too late to help with your pick - but he’s been transitioning out of being a TT specialist and more towards a classics rider. Guessing on this bit, but I think he saw the writing on the wall with Ganna and others coming up and decided to shift his focus
Top ganna indeed. Holy crap
Ganna made that look pretty comfortable!
Decent effort from Almeida. Watching Bardet on a TT bike is always a bit painful, it’s never going to be a strength of his but you’d think there’s some relatively low hanging fruit there if he spent a bit more time working on it with an aero specialist.
Remco impressed me today. Quickstep’s GC stable is heading into the race with a nice little advantage. And nobody torpedoed their race either good start.
Also, Ganna is a beast. He’s going to be a real weapon for Ineos this race if they need to push the pace.
Good TT enjoyed watching that - I think Almeida could be a good GC bet - he can climb, sprint up hill and TT (similar profile to Roglic) - Quickstep are a strong team - and they are not supporting a sprinter - RE looked good on no racing but I think the man from Portugal is the better bet for this Giro 
Well, I’m gonna be watching for George Bennet in gc, only because he’s a fellow Kiwi. 
Go the flying kiwi. He should be happy with today’s effort. Ganna was back to his best.
What happened to Bennett? Did he crash? I haven’t watched the coverage yet but I didn’t expect him to be that far down on such a short TT. Especially following his performance at Nationals.
A sting ride also by Vlasov…could be a dark horse to watch.
Evenepoel impressed, but there is a long way to go for him. DQS is gonna have to Ham & Egg it between him and Almaeda if they want to come out on top.
Most of the GC guys are clumped close together, which means exciting racing to come!
Nationals is different to the world tour with TT specialists. He is with nearly all the GC guys so no issues so far.
Luis Leon Sanchez having bad luck was a bummer. That he was been given his road bike as a replacement was a huge surprise. I still don’t get it why the mechanic picked the road bike with other Turbine’s on the car roof? Surely he’s prioritized (in addition to Vlasov). The only plausible explanation is that all riders in APTs starting group other than Vlasov are 180cm or less with much smaller frames but might still have been the faster choice than his roadie?
Boy, that was a long, boring stage…but great win for Merlier and Alpecin - Fenix.
Gaviria got put into the barriers by his own teammate. Looked like his lead out man expected Gaviria to go around his left but he was coming through in the right, but the lead out was drifting right. New barrier design prevented an awful crash.
Nozzolo extends his streak of the most second places with no wins in the Giro.
Does anyone have any overall power numbers for him this race? I remember 12 mins @ 500w+ last year I think, would love to know what he turned out yesterday. I saw in the live feed him turning 800-900 in aero coming out of the corners…
All I saw is what Velon posted, which was the last 2 minutes. Dude is so baller, he even waved to fans on the side of the road at one point.
Since my computer is failing to take a screen grab correctly, here’s a link to the post: Velon CC on Instagram: "There were some exceptional performances in the Giro d'Italia Stage 1 ITT but this was just next level. What a bike rider 🙇🏻♂️ #giro #giroditalia #giro2021 #giro104 #italia #italy #cycling #cycle #ciclismo #ciclisme #wielrennen #radsport #bike #bikes #bicycle #bicycles #lifebehindbars #pedal #wheel #racing #proracing #procycling #cyclist #roadcycling #bikelife #cyclinglife #cyclisme #ganna #timetrial"
Seeing Remco Evenepoel attacking on a intermediate sprint, how he can say he is supporting João Almeida to the GC. What a load of bulsh*t.
And sometimes the peloton just gets it wrong…great stage win for Taco van der Hoorn (and we all know we love that name).
Bora really made a mess of that one…spent all their bullets early in the stage to eliminate the sprinters and then didn’t have enough to still chase down the break. Cofidis and UAE also should have helped out more once over the last major climb.
Not certain how Taco can ride a bike with balls that big…he went solo form a LONG way out! 