Intro:

BMC Racing claim victory in the men's team time trial on the opening day of the UCI Road World Championships in Spain.

Script:

BMC Racing finished first in the men's team time trial on the opening day of the UCI Road World Championships in Spain.

The American squad stopped the clock on a rolling 57.1km course around Ponferrada in 1hr 3min 29sec.

That time was 32 seconds faster than runners-up Orica-GreenEdge. The Australians had only been on the fringes of the podium places in the first three sectors but managed to jump two places and snatch silver.

In third was Omega Pharma - Quick-Step. The defending champions were last to start but they suffered a dreadful third sector and fell to 12 seconds behind BMC Racing by the third split, after 48.9km.

BMC's Tejay van Garderen says he's thrilled to land the title:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Tejay van Garderen, BMC Racing:

"It feels incredible. We were confident but we were nervous coming into this and man we just..."

Team Sky, led by British Olympic time trial champion Sir Bradley Wiggins, missed out on a medal by two seconds.