Mark Cavendish takes lead in Tirreno-Adriatico

Mark Cavendish claimed the leader's jersey of Tirreno-Adriatico after his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team won the opening team time trial.

Cavendish led his team over the line in San Vincenzo after they blitzed the 18.5km coastal TTT course. Orica-GreenEdge placed second at 11 seconds, with Movistar in third spot at 18 seconds.

Sky finished in sixth spot, 27 seconds adrift of Omega Pharma-QuickStep.

On Thursday, the riders start in San Vincenzo and take a 166km route to Cascina. The first half of the day is run over lumpy terrain with three categorised climbs, before a flat second half to the line which should suit a bunch sprint.

Results
Tirreno-Adriatico 2014, stage one: Donoratico to San Vincenzo, 18.5km TTT
1. Omega Pharma-QuickStep in 20-13

2. Orica-GreenEdge at 11 secs

3. Movistar at 18 secs

4. Tinkoff-Saxo at 24 secs

5. Cannondale at 26 secs

6. Team Sky at 27 secs

7. Lotto-Belisol at 28 secs

8. Trek Factory Racing at 36 secs

9. Belkin at 37 secs

10. FDJ at 43 secs

Overall classification after stage one
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-QuickStep in 20-13

2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

3. Tony Martin (Ger) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

4. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

5. Wouter Poels (Ned) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

6. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

7. Matteo Tretin (Ita) Omega Pharma-QuickStep

8. Rigoberto Uran Omega Pharma-QuickStep all same time

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