Marcel Kittel's misspent youth as a time triallist paid dividends on the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia as he put himself in a position to take the maglia rosa over from Holland to Italy.
The German, who specialised in the discipline in his junior days, clocked 11.14 to finish fifth on the flat 9.8km course in Apeldoorn, leaving himself just 11 seconds back on stage winner and first race leader Tom Dumoulin.
His time was comfortably the best of the many sprinters in the race and, with two flat stages to come in the Dutch Grande Partenza, bonus seconds could elevate him into the second Grand Tour leader's jersey of his career after he wore yellow at the Tour de France two years ago.
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"11 seconds, I just heard, the third best time so far. That's good – I can be very happy with that," Kittel told reporters in staccato rhythm, still panting after recovering from a ride he had clearly put a lot into.
The 27-year-old, who has given his teammates pink bracelets engraved with the words 'We fight for pink and glory', recognised in his pre-race press conference on Thursday that pink might be a possibility, but remained coy about talking up his chances. That remained the case after the time trial, despite the first piece of the puzzle being put in place.
"I'm a sprinter, not a GC rider," he said when the inevitable question came. "The pink jersey would be a great extra but it's not the main priority; I came here to concentrate on the sprints.
- More on this story: Giro d'Italia: How the GC contenders fared on stage 1
- Giro d'Italia stage 1: Results, report and gallery
- Giro d'Italia stage 1: Video Highlights
- Giro d'Italia stage 1: Finish line quotes
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