BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Canadian Svein Tuft powered Orica Green-Edge to victory in the team time trial in Belfast in the opening stage of the Giro dItalia on Friday, taking the overall leaders pink jersey on his 37th birthday. wholesale jerseys . Orica, which was the overwhelming stage favourite, clocked a time of 24 minutes, 42 seconds along the 21.7-kilometre course, which was lined by more than 140,000 fans. The Australian team benefited from starting second and avoiding most of the rain that fell later. "What an amazing day, I never in my life would have imagined something like this," said Tuft, a native of Langley, B.C. "Im so proud of my team and I just cant thank them enough for that. They gave me the gift, it was really a birthday present. This team is really selfless that way. I feel really fortunate to be given that gift on my birthday." Omega Pharma-QuickStep finished second, five seconds behind Orica, beating third-place BMC by just two seconds. Cadel Evans looked strong for BMC and is one of the favourites after last years third-place finish. With defending champion Vincenzo Nibali not competing, Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana is another of the race favourites and his Movistar team finished eighth, 55 seconds behind Orica. One of his rivals, Joaquim Rodriguez, had a poor start as his Katusha team struggled throughout and only finished 19th. Rodriguez is 1 minute, 33 seconds behind Tuft and 38 seconds behind Quintana. While it has become a tradition for the first Giro stage to be held outside Italy, this is the first time that the Grande Partenza — or the Big Start — took place outside mainland Europe. Despite the wind and rain, it was a festive atmosphere in the Northern Irish city, with large crowds lining the route and cheering the riders on. However, Irish rider Dan Martin crashed after just 15 minutes, leaving him with a suspected broken collarbone. Martin caused the crash when he caught his wheel on a drain cover and went down strongly on his right arm, bringing down several of his Garmin-Sharp teammates. The four cyclists who were able to continue had to wait for teammate Fabian Wegmann — who had been dropped early on — to catch up with them, as rules stipulate a team has to finish with at least five riders for its time to count. Garmin eventually finished last, 3:26 behind Orica. That means Ryder Hesjedals chances of repeating his 2012 Giro success are all but over. "Obviously there was a crash, and there was only four of us that stayed ahead," said Victoria native Hesjedal. "It was right before a corner and you hear something had happened, we were already through the corner, looked back and there was nobody there. "Obviously it was pretty scary because you dont know what the hell is going on. I dont know what happened, it was basically a nightmare." Belfast is also the start and finish point for Saturdays 218-kilometre leg, which takes in picturesque rock formation, the Giants Causeway along its coastal route. The Giro ends in Trieste on June 1. cheap jerseys . Amid lusty boos from a modest crowd on a rainy, 46-degree night, Cano began his first game in the Bronx since joining Seattle this winter for $240 million with a wink -- at Yankees starter CC Sabathia (3-3). cheap nfl jerseys . -- Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin will have minor shoulder surgery soon to address a nagging injury he played with last season.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. On Sunday, Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist scored what could very well be the goal of the year. As he broke in on the net he was clearly held and the ref had his arm up to call a penalty, or penalty shot, but allowed Nyquist to continue on his breakaway first. If a second infraction was committed on Nyquist, a trip or a slash for example, before he scored the goal, would both calls be wiped out or would the Red Wings be awarded the goal and a power play. Thanks for taking the time to read my question. Matt NimmoBrampton CLICK HERE to watch the play in question. Matt: After being fouled by Matt Carle on a breakaway, Gustav Nyquist demonstrated amazing patience, persistence and the hands of a surgeon in order to regain puck possession with both skates well below the goal line and then slide the disk into the net past Ben Bishop from what appeared to be an impossible angle. Not many players, past or present, possess the skill and instinct required to spin and thread the needle at full speed to score a goal from that location on the ice. Your question, Matt, has several variables for us to consider. The assessment of a penalty shot is designed to restore a scoring opportunity which was lost as a result of a foul being committed by the offending team. On the initial part of this play all parameters of the rule were satisfied for referee Wes McCauley to impose a penalty shot once Gustav Nyquist was clearly fouled from behind by Matt Carle and denied a reasonable scoring opportunity. I am certain that McCauley intended to award a penalty shot to Nyquist had he not scored or other criteria were to develop during the delayed call. As Wes McCauley demonstrated, the referee must delay the call until the offending team gains possession of the puck. If during this delay, Gustav Nyquist or any other Red Wing player had regained a reasonable scoring opportunity (or opportunities) yet no goal resulted, the initial penalty shot call would revert to the assessment of a minor penalty. The next to impossible shot by Nyquist would not have qualified as him regaining a "reasonable scoring opportunity." A penalty shot would have been awarded if the puck had not gone in the net as specified in rule 24.8 (iii)—The fact that he (Nyquist) got a shot off does not automatically eliminate this play from the penalty shot consideration criteria. If the foul was from behind and he was denied a "more" reasonable scoring opportunity due to the foul, then the penalty shot should be awarded. Allow me to answer your direct question, Matt, and aalso play out some other scenarios that could result, with the understanding that if the foul for which the penalty shot was awarded was such as to normally incur a minor penalty, then regardless of whether the penalty shot results in a goal or not, no further penalty shall be served. wholesale nfl jerseys. . (Major, Match and Misconduct penalties would be assessed in addition to the penalty shot.) In addition, no penalty being served on the clock will expire when a goal is scored on a penalty shot. • If the penalty shot infraction committed by Matt Carle was such to incur a double-minor penalty (i.e. high-stick resulting in injury), the first minor penalty would not be assessed since the penalty shot was awarded to restore the lost scoring opportunity. The second minor penalty would be assessed and served regardless of whether the penalty shot results in a goal. It would be announced as a double-minor penalty and the player would serve two minutes only. (This would also be the assessment in the case where Nyquist (or Wings) scored prior to play being stopped to award the penalty shot resulting from a double minor infraction.) • If a Tampa player (or bench) was assessed an additional minor penalty on this play (separate from the hooking minor infraction to Carle that resulted in the penalty shot), the Tampa minor penalty would be served on the clock regardless of whether the penalty shot results in a goal. • Although it is not currently in the Officials Situation Handbook, conventional wisdom states (until further advised), if both of the above situations were to be satisfied (double minor plus a second minor penalty) one minor of the double minor infraction is eliminated to restore the lost scoring opportunity and the stand alone minor infraction is also assessed and served. A 5 on 3 manpower situation would occur regardless of whether the penalty shot results in a goal. (Presently no "Captains choice" extended in this scenario to allow for team option to play one man short for 4 minutes or two men short for 2 minutes). • Should two penalty shots be awarded to the same team at the same stoppage of play (two separate fouls), only one goal can be scored or awarded at a single stoppage of play. Should the first penalty shot result in a goal, the second shot would not be taken but the appropriate penalty would be assessed and served for the infraction committed. Thanks for the thought provoking question, Matt. I trust the answer pretty much covers all the bases for you. Cmon Ref extends Happy Birthday Wishes to Gordie Howe, who is 86 years young today. My bet is that "Mr. Hockey" would have also been able to score from the angle that Gustav Nyquist did last night in Hockeytown, USA. cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
