CYCLING – At the Giro d'Italia the Garmin train carries the Lithuanian Navardauskas in pink

Taylor Phinney was unable to keep the pink jersey at the end of the team time trial in Verona. Foot sore after the fall of Horsens, author of a forehand that took him to a meadow in today's carousel at over 50 km per hour, the American with his team, the Bmc Racing Team which also includes Ballan and Thor Hushvod finished only in tenth place, 31” behind Garmin-Barracuda, which with the Lithuanian Ramunas Navardauskas took the lead in the standings. Garmin was among the big favorites of today's stage having excellent lap times in its ranks, first of all that Rasmussen who finished third in the prologue time trial in Herning won by Phinney and indicated by most as a possible pink jersey tonight in Verona: but what happened you don't expect halfway through, when Rasmussen himself left the Garmin train, leaving the symbol of supremacy to the best-placed teammate in the standings, which was Navardauskas.
As could be expected, the team time trial gave a first shuffle to the standings without however opening unbridgeable furrows. Among the candidates to contend for the Giro, the one who has lost the most is José Rujano, the Venezuelan grimpeur who with his Androni finished 20th at 1'44” from the Garmin team. On the other hand, another climber smiles among the big names, the Spanish Joaquin Rodriguez who finished second with the Russian Katusha, inflicting 17 seconds on the Astana of the Czech Roman Kreuziger, 21 seconds on Ivan Basso's Liquigas, 23 seconds on Frank Schleck's RadioShack and 29 seconds to the Lampre of Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego. Small but significant and completely unexpected advantages because obtained on terrains that are not his specialty: that's why, after tomorrow's all-flat stage that will bring the tadpoles from Modena to Fano, we will have to keep an eye on this Spaniard, 33 years old on 12 May, winner of the last Freccia Vallona, ​​who has always considered himself one of the best climbers, if not the strongest. It is said of him that in his first year as a professional in 2001, during a training session with his Once comrades, on an uphill stretch to show the extreme ease with which he could pedal, he had the effrontery to flank Jalabert, Sastre, Olano , the best of Spanish cycling at the time, making the gesture of smoking a cigar. The three big names tied it to their fingers and in the evening, at table, they forced the young companion to smoke a real whole cigar. Hence the nickname of "Purito" that has accompanied Rodriguez ever since. A "small cigar" that Basso would do well to watch out for when the road to the Giro begins to climb.