Team Sky were one of the teams that did best in the rainy conditions of today's Giro d'Italia team time trial. Despite riding the entire stage on wet roads, the team did well to finish fifth and were pleased to get their race off to a good start.

Team Sky produced a strong display over the second half of the Giro d’Italia’s opening team time trial to clock the fifth fastest time in Belfast.

Team Sky were only ninth quickest out of the first 12 starters as they passed through the opening time check in rain-sodden conditions, but as the weather gradually improved, the squad battled back brilliantly and crossed the line just 35 seconds down on eventual stage winners Orica-GreenEdge.

GreenEdge had been the second team to roll down the start ramp and had completed most of the 20.7km course before the rain started falling in the Northern Irish capital. Their time of 24 minutes and 42 seconds proved unbeatable and saw them wrap up their victory with a five-second margin over Omega Pharma – Quick-Step.

Svein Tuft was the first GreenEdge rider to cross the finish line and that ensured the Canadian rider – who was also celebrating his 37th birthday - became the first incumbent of the iconic pink jersey.

Quick-Step’s second place finish ensured Rigoberto Uran put time into his fellow pre-race favourites, but BMC’s third spot on the standings meant the Colombian could only put two seconds into Cadel Evans. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) were 50sec and 1min 28sec back respectively, but Dan Martin was the day’s big loser and was forced to withdraw from the race after being one of four Garmin-Sharp riders to fall heavily on a slippery manhole cover.

Tens of thousands of fans turned out to watch the action unfurl and tributes were paid to Wouter Weylandt beforehand to mark the anniversary of the Belgian’s tragic death while competing in the race three years ago.

It was the Colombian team who kicked things off but GreenEdge eclipsed their time as the downpour started and no other team could come close to their early marker. Team Sky endured some of the worst conditions during the early part of their run, but still maintained an average speed of 51.5 km/h as they powered around the slightly-undulating circuit.

After the stage Ben Swift was philosophical about the team’s performance and able to shed some light on how things had gone on the road.

He told his team's website: “The weather wasn’t ideal, and although it improved whilst we were on the course, the roads were still slippery so we had to keep our wits about us.

“We lost Bernie [Eisel] on that climb to Stormont. He’d had a few mechanical problems during his warm up so wasn’t as well prepared as he could have been and we missed his horsepower over the second half of the course. CJ hung on for as long as he could as well, but it was no surprise he dropped off given his late call up to the team.

“We all gave it our all and were happy to claw some time back on GreenEdge and finish strongly. I felt good out there, better than I’ve done in a team time trial for a long time, and I think we can be happy with the result. Our focus turns to tomorrow now and we’ll try to do something if it comes down to a sprint.”

Sports Director Dario Cioni was also keen to stress the positives before turning his attention to Saturday’s stage which sees the riders tackle a 218km loop around Belfast which is likely to end in a bunch sprint.

He said: “If you take the conditions into account, fifth place is pretty good. We went out in that window of rain and the entire course was wet for us. There’s not a lot we could do about that and we did the best we could. The fact we were one of the fastest teams over the second half of the course showed how strong we were but hats off to Orica-GreenEdge - they set out what they wanted to achieve so chapeau to them.

“Bernie was unlucky today but I’m sure he’ll be up there leading out the boys for the sprint tomorrow. We won’t be among the favourites there but we’ve got a really good set up for the finish. Swifty, Bernie, Eddy and CJ are all fast guys so we’re confident we can be in contention.”