Ryder Hesjedal, Giro d'Italia team time trial
After weeks of mental and physical preparation, Slipstream/Chipotle H3O realized its greatest triumph Saturday, May 10, by handily winning the opening team time trial at the 2008 Giro d’Italia. Christian Vande Velde was the first of five finishing riders to cross the line and started stage 2 of the Giro as the race leader. Also finishing with Christian was Magnus Backstedt, Ryder Hesjedal, Julian Dean and David Zabriskie.

“The team was amazing. This is a big victory for our team from top to bottom. We all put a lot of effort into this victory and it wasn’t by chance that we won,” said Christian. “A big thanks to everyone. Crazy.”

In a live report from Cyclingnews.com David Millar said after the race that “Our main objective was to get the jersey. Christian really deserves the jersey,” revealing that letting Vande Velde cross the line in first was planned. Millar took long pulls and dropped off at the end.

Said Allen Lim after the finish and before the final news: 6:27 pm - The riders are done. And we are currently in first. No matter what happens they all agree they couldn’t have done any better. They really laid it on the line. We planned to finish with five and we did. They finished with absolutely nothing left and they are really proud of one another. Hugs all around for executing the plan to perfection. No matter what happens we did this as as team today.

Slipstream Results: Stage 1
1 Slipstream 26.32 (53.367 kph)
2 CSC +6″
3 High Road +7″
4. Liquigas +9″
5. Barloworld +14″

General Classification
1. Christian Vande Velde 26′32″
2. David Zabriskie mt
3. Ryder Hesjedal mt
4. Julian Dean mt
5. Magnus Backstedt mt
36. David Millar +19″
171. Pat McCarty +2′02″
172. Danny Pate +2′02″
193. Chris Sutton +4′25″

Pictured above: Canadian Ryder Hesjedal takes a turn at the front during Slipstream/Chipotle H3O’s winning team time trial performance in Palermo.