Cycling: Sir Bradley Wiggins trails in preparation race for Giro d'Italia

US's Danny Pate, Britain's Bradley Wiggins and Italia's Dario Cataldo of Sky Procycling Team compete during the 14,1 km Team Time Trial at the Giro del Trentino (GETTY IMAGES)

Sir Bradley Wiggins was more than six minutes off the lead after the opening stage of the Giro del Trentino.

The race around northern Italy and Austria – a key part of Wiggins' preparations for next month's Giro d'Italia – began with two short stages, a 128.5km (80-mile) ride around Lienz, then a team time trial. Although Wiggins and Team Sky won the time trial, they had finished the earlier stage as part of a peloton 6min 51sec down on the leaders.

Maxime Bouet claimed the stage 1a victory after making an early break with seven others. Those eight were reduced to three on the steep Iselsberg Pass close to the finish, before Bouet came home ahead of Josef Cerny and Michael Rodriguez. Pete Kennaugh was the best of Team Sky's riders in 11th place. The Giro next heads into the mountains, where Wiggins has a lot to do to get back into contention.