Britain’s Mark Cavendish donned the race leader’s pink jersey on Saturday after his Columbia team pocketed the opening stage of the Tour of Italy, a 20.5 km team time-trial at Venice Lido.

Columbia covered the distance in 21min 50sec with the Garmin team six seconds adrift and Lance Armstrong’s and Levi Leipheimer’s Astana third, 13sec off the pace.

“I live in Italy so this jersey has particular significance. To win the stage all the riders have to be at 100 percent. So this is a team victory,” said Cavendish.

“If I win on Sunday, as I hope, it will be different. The team will work for me. Today we had to wait until the last moment, until Astana finished.”

Armstrong, racing for the first time since dislocating his shoulder in a fall in March and building up to an assault on an eighth Tour de France title, was happy with his third place.

“The guys were really strong but well done Columbia and Cavendish, they had a great race,” said the American.

Garmin had been favorites after winning last year’s opener in Sicily but Cavendish and company had their reward as they went for the jugular.

Ivan Basso’s Liquigas had been expected to give everyone a run for their money but came in 40sec behind Columbia while compatriot Damiano Cunego’s Lampre team were 2sec further back.

On the plus side for Italian fans, Danilo Di Luca (LPR), who won the Giro in 2007, saw his team come in fourth 22sec off the winning time.

Columbia produced an average time topping 56 km/h on the flat circuit at the laguna separating Venice from the Adriatic.

Cavendish gave an early statement of intent that he intends at least to emulate last year’s exploits when the racer from the Isle of Man won two Giro stages before bagging four in the Tour de France.

Italy certainly suits him as he won the Milan-Sanremo last March.

Basso was sanguine about the day’s proceedings.

“We turned in a good time. Columbia and Garmin had a team made for this time trial whereas ours was constructed around a three-week race,” insisted the 2006 champion and favourite to repeat that showing.

Sunday’s 156km second stage will be a boon for the sprinters along the road from Jesolo to Trieste.

Tour of Italy results on Saturday after the first stage, a 20.5km team time-trial here:

1. Columbia 21:50, 2. Garmin 06, 3. Astana 13, 4. LPR 22, 5. ISD 27, 6.
Katusha 35, 7. Rabobank 38, 8. Liquigas 40, 9. Lampre 42, 10. Milram 49, 11.
Cervélo 49, 12. Barloworld 54, 13. Saxo Bank 55, 14. Caisse d’Epargne 58, 15.
Bouygues Telecom 1:01, 16. Diquigiovanni 1:06, 17. Quick Step 1:14, 18.
Xacobeo 1:19, 19. Acqua Sapone 1:21, 20. Silence 1:22, 21. AG2R 1:35, 22. Fuji 1:37.

Overall
1. Mark Cavendish (GBR/THR) 21:50.
2. Marco Pinotti (ITA/THR) at 0:00.
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/THR) 0:00.
4. Michael Rogers (AUS/THR) 0:00.
5. Thomas Lövkvist (SWE/THR) 0:00.
6. Mark Renshaw (AUS/THR) 0:00.
7. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR/THR) 0:00.
8. Morris Possoni (ITA/THR) 0:00.
9. Michael Barry (CAN/THR) 0:00.
10. David Zabriskie (USA/GRM) 0:06.
11. Tom Danielson (USA/GRM) 0:06.
12. Tyler Farrar (USA/GRM) 0:06.
13. Christian Vande Velde (USA/GRM) 0:06.
14. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/GRM) 0:06.
15. Lance Armstrong (USA/AST) 0:13.
16. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/AST) 0:13.
17. Chris Horner (USA/AST) 0:13.
18. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR/AST) 0:13.
19. Levi Leipheimer (USA/AST) 0:13.
20. Jose Luis Rubiera (ESP/AST) 0:13.

Selected:
55. Ivan Basso (ITA/LIQ) 0:40.
58. Damiano Cunego (ITA/LAM) 0:42.
71. Carlos Sastre (ESP/CTT) 0:49.
183. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 2:16.

Photo’s by: CorVos Pro