Kiwi pair in top15 in Giro opener

New Zealanders Jesse Sergent and Kack Bauer made strong starts to their debuts in the Giro d’Italia in Denmark today.

Sergent was the leading performer for the Radioshack Nissan Trek team with ninth placing in the 8.7km prologue in the city of Herning, the birthplace of Bjarne Riis, the only Dane to win the Tour de France.

“That’s stage one done, hurt like hell;,” Sergent said on Twitter. “Got a little bit excited in the beginning and paid for it in the end. Happy that the Giro is underway.”

Sergent clocked 10:52 for the mostly flat prologue, while Garmin Barracuda’s Bauer was only two seconds slower in 14th fastest with two outstanding performances from the kiwis.

American Taylor Phinney, former world individual pursuit champion, was fastest for BMC in 10:26 ahead of Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) in 10:35 and Alex Rasmussen (Garmin) in 10:39.

Tomorrow’s first stage is a 206km mostly circuit starting and finishing in Herning.