Paolo's pink party

"Winning on the first day is good for my and the team's morale but the time bonuses (20, 12 and eight seconds) awarded to the first three riders on each road stage mean it's easy to lose the lead," the Discovery Channel general said after the race, indicating the pink jersey was not his to keep.

"There is a long way to go before we get to Milan but hopefully I'll get it back before then."

Savoldelli won the opening time-trial in Seraing, Belgium on Saturday by a massive 11 seconds.

"I dreamed of winning this stage but thought it'd be close and decided by a second or two," Savoldelli said.

"It wasn't a course for a time trial specialist because of the climb and I knew the climbers and overall contenders could do well. I suppose the surprise was that I went better than everybody expected."

After winning the prologue at last week's Tour de Romandie, Savoldelli struggled with illness, but now says he's fully recovered.

"After my health problems in the last Tour de Romandie I retired to not risk to make it worst. Then I stopped 2 days and I start again to train on Monday. I was still feeling weak. I felt better only on Thursday"

The 2005 and 2002 Giro victor still has a long way to go before the final ride into Milan, however, and will face intense challenges from the likes of Damiano Cunego, Gilberto Simoni, Ivan Basso and Danilo Di Luca, all of whom finishes in the top-16 riders in stage one.

"I'm satisfied with my ride but the truth is a few seconds in the time trial doesn't really mean a lot," Di Luca said after the race. "Everybody knows the mountain stages will make this a hard Giro."

The last week of the Giro is an especially mountainous journey through the Italian Dolomites, and Savoldelli has expressed concern about the final climbing portion of the race.

Basso, Savoldelli's principal rival, said that he was slightly disappointed with his opening performance.

"It was a difficult prologue and I thought I'd do a bit better."

"It's only the first stage and so I'm not worried. I know I've worked hard to be at my best for the Giro, so we'll see what happens later in the race."