For Lampre-Merida, it was all about limiting losses in today's opening team time trial of the Giro del Trentino and the team performed solidly by taking 8th to set Przemyslaw Niemiec and Winner Anacona up for solid GC campaigns. The race also served as an important test ahead of the opening team time trial of the Giro d'Italia.

With a team without any major TT specialists, Lampre-Merida were not expected to feature at the pointy end of the standings in today's Giro del Trentino team time trial. Instead, the team set out with a dual mission of limiting the losses for GC riders Przemyslaw Niemiec and Winner Anacona and test the TTT skills ahead of the Giro d'Italia.

The team did well to finish 8th, losing only 23 seconds to stage winners BMC. For Anacona, Niemiec and Roberto Ferrari who was a late replacement for Jan Polanc who still suffers the effects of his Vuelta al Pais Vasco crash, the race also gave important indications of their condition ahead of the Giro.

"Considering the features of our riders at the Giro del Trentino, today's performance at in the team time trial reflects the potential," sports director Orlando Maini said. "The boys have found solid automatisms, the team spirit was good. Maybe they could have been 5 seconds faster if they had not made some small mistakes.

"The team time trial was an interesting test for Niemiec, Anacona and Ferrari, three riders who most likely be part of the team for the Tour of Italy. Today they rode with a focus on finding a good understanding for the team time trial in Belfast."