Some mountains in the middle and a short hill at the end. We brought a lot of manpower for a small race here, which hopefully will turn the team out for a win. Unfortunately, the team hasn't won anything since Down Under. Hopefully that can change. And yes, I just copied that from my preview. :P

We managed to get Howes in the break as an insurance policy.

Up the mountain we built our team near the front, hoping to just keep stable unless it came to something else.

And boy did something else come. Up We though the climb had gone smoothly, until Caleb went back tot he team car after the descent. According to them, Joaquim Rodriguez was up the road, and had 2 minutes!

With 25 km to go, we still had 3 men fresh and ready at the front. Lachlan said he felt good, so he shielded me while Tommy D, who said his legs were mush, used up what he had to try to reel in Purito.

And he did. It's likely J-Rod realized his attack wasn't going to work once the time started coming back. What a shocking attack from the race favorite, but I didn't mind! Before this, the early break had been reeled in easily as well, with Alex not working with them.

Take that Skyborgs! We flew up the mountain! Maybe Danielson's legs weren't so bad after all! Lachlan would take over at the front. There was 3 km to go!

1.5 km to go, Lachlan had cracked and I surged ahead., trying to pull a gap, and I was getting it, but Frank Schleck was glued to my wheel.

But with under a km to go, I accelerated, and he couldn't match the pace!. I was sprinting away!

And I took it! Another win in the record books!

Behind, Schleck just managed to hold off Kreuzinger for 2nd place.

I'm undefeated in overall victories this year! Maybe we can keep that going in Tirreno!

Well that's it. Finally time to start the WT season of Europe, with Tirenno - Adriatico! See you there!

Here we are, the start of the WT season in Europe. Form now until June is going to be one big roller coaster ride.

This year's route is extremely unique, it lack not only a mountain top finish but any mountain stages at all. Instead, almost every stage contains punchy , rolling hills. This could be good, as my strengths favor Ardennes climbs over Alpine climbs, but on the other hand if it isn't selective enough that could be bad.

With Talansky and Danielson over in France, the rest of the main squad took the plane over here. Ryder is here, although he is not in great shape yet, since he has later goals. He will help me and pick attacks. We have Farrar here for sprints, and a group of quality helpers.

The startlist is immense for this one, with all the best GC guys and sprinters lining up for the start.

*** Froome, Nibali, Rodriguez, Quintana
** Valverde, D. Martin, Costa, Van Den Broeck, Uran
* Schleck, Horner, Basso, Majka, Ten Dam, Kangert

*** Kittel, Cavendish, Demare
** Bouhanni, Kristoff, Degenkolb, Viviani
* Goss, Chicci, Bennati, Farrar, Modolo, Boasson Hagen

Here we go! The team time trial starts soon!

A short TTT around Italy. Hopefully not too big gaps today.

Trek stormed out of the gate and set the best time early on.

We stayed organized and fought, but we didn't have our best squad for this. We finished 8th, 54 seconds back.

Pre race favorites Team Sky didn't disappoint, but they did come up short. 6 seconds off the time set by Trek. Still a great place for Froome to be.

BMC stormed ahead early, taking a 10 second lead at the first time check. But in the end they faltered badly after their train unhinged. They ended up 5th.

And so it was Trek who took the stage over Sky and Tinkoff. We're still less than a minute behind, but that's not great news.

Well I'm ready for the first road stage, are you? See you there!

Hilly stage with a flat finish, we'll play it by ear.

Breakaway is away. Millar jumps onto it. Will it work?

The break was reeled in, and everyone was relaxing except Farrar, who tried desperately to find a wheel but kept getting boxed in.

Giant had the prefect leadout. Farrar had lost ground. FDJ was coming on the right with Boasson Hagen as Demare opened up.

And Kittel takes it! Farrar finishes 14th, the rest of us just relax in the pack.

No real changes overall for the favorites.

That was a quick one! See you next time for stage 3!