 The Giro started with a team time trial in Sicily . There was pre @-@ race speculation that this stage would result in an American rider wearing the pink jersey for the first time in twenty years , as Slipstream – Chipotle , Team CSC , and Astana were among the biggest favorites to win and all had strong American time trialists on their squads . The victory went to Slipstream – Chipotle , which put their team leader , American Christian Vande Velde , in the first pink jersey . With a hilly stage ahead on day two of the Giro , Vande Velde 's race lead was far from secure . He lost it to Franco Pellizotti , who finished sufficiently ahead of Vande Velde on the stage to take a lead of a single second in the overall classification . Pellizotti retained the race lead for the next three days , as those stages were flat and were contested by sprinters , with the overall favorites finishing together with the peloton in each . 
