BMC dethrones Omega Pharma to win world team TT

PONFERRADA, Spain (AP) BMC dethroned two-time champion Omega Pharma-Quickstep to win the men's team time trial on the opening day of the road cycling world championships on Sunday.

BMC powered through the hilly 57.1-kilometer (35.4-mile) ride, starting and finishing in the city of Ponferrada, in 1 hour, 3 minutes, 29 seconds.

Orica GreenEdge repeated as silver medalists from 2013.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep, led by individual time trial champion Tony Martin, settled for bronze after having won the event in its first two editions.

''We knew coming in we had a strong team. We just went out there and did our thing,'' said BMC's American rider Tejay Van Garderen.

In 2012, Van Garderen's BMC finished 3 seconds slower than Omega Pharma-Quickstep to miss the gold.

This time it left no room for error, beating Orica GreenEdge by 31 seconds. The former champions were 35 seconds slower than BMC.

BMC was helped, and Omega Pharma-Quickstep hurt, by a late rain shower that arrived after BMC had finished its run.

Martin will look to rebound on Wednesday when he bids to win his fourth straight individual time trial title.

While Omega Pharma-Quickstep failed to defend its title, Specialized-Lululemon won the women's team time trial for the third straight year to begin the weeklong championships.

Specialized-Lululemon completed the 36.15-kilometer (22.46-mile) course in 43 minutes, 33 seconds.

Evelyn Stevens of the United States and Germany's Trixi Worrack are the only two members to have ridden on all three gold-medal winning teams.

''I am ecstatic,'' said Stevens. ''I knew when we got to the start line that we were going to win.''

Orica finished second, 1 minute, 17 seconds behind, and Astana completed the podium - 2:19 behind.

Rabobank Liv was on pace to defend its silver medal from 2013 until three of their riders crashed. Dutch riders Anna Van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten were taken to the hospital.

Rabobank Liv later said that Van der Breggen had broken a pelvic bone. In 2012, Van der Breggen was the under-23 European champion in the individual time trial.

Van Vleuten needed to have sutures, according to the team.

The team time trials were the first of 12 to be held this week in northern Spain.