Friday 4 May 2018 19:42, UK
Tom Dumoulin began the defence of his Giro d'Italia crown with victory in the opening time-trial, which took place in Jerusalem.
World time-trial champion Dumoulin, riding for Team Sunweb, beat Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) to take the early lead on what proved to be a dramatic day for some of his main rivals.
Two of them - Team Sky's Chris Froome and Miguel Angel Lopez of Astana - suffered minor injuries in crashes during their reconnaissance rides in the morning and both would lose significant time in the 9.7km test against the clock.
Froome finished 21st, some 37 seconds behind Dumoulin, while Lopez dropped nearly a minute on the Dutchman in finishing 61st on the lumpy course, which also included a number of tricky corners.
A third rider to crash - former Team Sky all-rounder Kanstantsin Siutsou - suffered a fractured vertebra in his crash and was unable to start.
Dumoulin was the last man to start in the Israeli city, and by then it was Dennis' time of 12 minutes and four seconds that he had to beat.
The time-trial rivals were close throughout the test but it was Dumoulin, winner of the pink jersey 12 months ago thanks to his performance in the race closing time-trial, who came out on top by just two seconds.
Victor Campenaerts, the European time-trial champion, finished third for Lotto Fix All while Britain's Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) rounded out the top five and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) impressively finished inside the top 10.
Israel is the first country outside Europe to host a Grand Tour stage, and there will be two more relatively flat stages in the country on Saturday and Sunday before the race returns to Italy on Tuesday.
Stage 1 result:
1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 12min 02sec
2 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing +2sec
3 Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Fix All same time
4 Jose Goncalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin +12s
5 Alex Dowsett (Gbr) Katusha-Alpecin +16s
6 Pello Bilbao (Esp) Astana +18s
7 Simon Yates (Gbr) Mitchelton-Scott +20s
8 Maximillian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors +21s
9 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin +27s
10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain Merida same time
Others:
16 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ +33s
21 Chris Froome (Gbr) Team Sky +37s
47 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE-Team Emirates +50s
61 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana +56s
