Hello and welcome to live coverage of the 98th edition of the Giro d'Italia! Things kick off with a 17.6km team time trial from San Lorenzo al Mare to San Remo on the Ligurian coast in northern Italy.

Richie Porte's push for the pink jersey gets under way as Team Sky roll down the ramp. It's the British team's strongest ever Giro squad with the likes of Mikel Nieve, Vasil Kiryienka, Bernard Eisel, Kanstantin Siutsou and Leopold Konig all on the roster. They have Elia Viviani for sprints and Salvatore Puccio, Bernie Eisel and Seb Henao to carry water and do domestique duties.

BMC get their race under way - and they have the Giro's youngest rider on their team, 21-year-old Rick Zabel, son of former green jersey king Erik Zabel. Damiano Caruso is their GC hope, while the likes of Silvan Dillier, Darwin Atapuma and Philippe Gilbert will be sniffing out stage wins.

Now it's Astana rampaging towards the line - and they have all nine riders who come home a huge 39 seconds clear with the fastest time of 19:39. Impressive stuff - although the competition hasn't been up to much so far.

As the cameras lingered on one Italian wildcard team, another rolled down the ramp. Bardiani CSF have the likes of Enrico Battaglin, Nicola Boem, Sonny Colbrelli, Stefano Pirazzi and Edoardo Zardini on their roster. Don't expect much from them today - but you'll be sure to see a whole host of Bardiani riders in a breakaway near you soon...

With seven riders, Pro Conti team Androni-Sidermec make their way down the finishing straight to set a time of 20:29, the slowerst time so far and 15 seconds adrift of leaders Ag2R-La Mondiale.

New fastest time set by Ag2R-La Mondiale, who come home with seven riders in a time of 20:14 which is 11 seconds quicker than Lampre-Merida.

Trek Factory Racing are primed to start... and down the ramp they go in their black and white minimalist kit. Their sprinter is Giacomo Nizzolo and their stage hunter is Fabio Felline. That aside, there's not much to write home about.

On course now it's the peach and black shirts of Nippo-Vini Fantini, whose main man is former Giro champion Damiano Cunego.

Lampre-Merida cross the finish line with six riders to set the target time of 20m 25s.

Today's TTT starts at the foot of the famous Cipressa climb, which features in the finale of the annual Milan-San Remo spring classic. With the exception of the 1.6km tunnel, it's a costal affair running along a disused railway line that has been turned into a bike path. It's fast, flat and sheltered - so expect some speedy times and a bunched leaderboard.

Now it's the turn of the Astana team of Italian youngster Fabio Aru, who finished third last year. It's been a different story altogether in 2015 with Aru struggling with form and fitness and good health. There have also been some controversial rumours doing the rounds, which won't help Astana's cause in mending their tarnished name. It remains to be seen if Aru can replicate last year's blistering performances - one suspects not.

Ag2R-La Mondiale's Julien Berard has already been distanced by his team-mates...

Now it's the turn of the Androni-Sidermec team of Italian veteran Franco Pellizotti. With the exception of Romanian Serghei Tvetvoc, it's an all-Italian team boasting the likes of Davide Appollonio, Marco Bandiera, Marco Frapporti and Oscar Gatto.

The Ag2R-La Mondiale team of Domenico Pozzato get their race under way. It will be interesting to see how Colombian Carlos Betancur rides for the French team after nearly two years of bad form and fitness concerns.

Lampre's GC man is Przemyslaw Niemiec, although the Pole does not have real designs on a podium finish. They'll look for stages through the likes of Diego Ulissi, Roberto Ferrari and Sacha Modolo.

It's an interesting route today, running pretty much entirely along a coastal bike path that has been laid on a disused railway line. There's a kilometre-long tunnel shortly after the start - but apart from that the route hugs the coast all the way to the finish. The corners are soft and the path is very narrow, meaning it should be a very fast route. But such is the width of the road, there are some points where support cars will not even be allowed... so fingers crossed for no crashes, punctures or mechanicals. In terms of gradient, it's pretty much pan-flat.

And they're off! Lampre-Merida - the first of 22 teams - roll down the ramp to get this race under way...

Italian team Lampre-Merida will be the first down the ramp in a matter of minutes. Teams will be leaving at five-minute intervals with Ag2R-La Mondiale off second, then Androni Giocattoli and Astana. Looking at the other favourites, BMC starts at 14:45, Team Sky and Etixx-Quickstep follow them at 14:50 and 14:55 respectively. Orica-GreenEdge start at 15:25, with Tinkoff-Saxo off at 15:45. Cannondale-Garmin starts at 15:50, with FDJ the last team to start at 15:55. All times in GMT.

The favourites for today's team time trial will be the Orica-GreenEdge of spring tyro Michael Matthews. Remember, the Australian squad won last year's TTT in Belfast to put Svein Tuft into the pink jersey on his 39th birthday. Some present!