Orica-GreenEDGE took the early headlines at this year’s race, while Tinkoff-Saxo have supported Alberto Contador masterfully since he took the maglia rosa. But there is another team who deserve big credit for their performance so far – Astana.

Paolo Tiralongo’s stage nine success capped a great first week for the Kazakh-based team, who have Fabio Aru, third overall last year, just three seconds off the race lead.

Every stage so far has seen the team in light blue mass at the front of the peloton and attack at will – Mikel Landa and Dario Cataldo having been particularly effective so far, both sitting inside the top ten overall.

And all this is happening from what is in effect Astana’s second string team, with their biggest names being saved to support Vincenzo Nibali’s Tour de France title defence in July. Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang, Michele Scarponi, Lars Boom and Lieuwe Westra are all among the riders who are not a part of Aru’s cast at the Giro.

Having seen the start of the season dominated by off-the-bike headlines, as the UCI Licence Commission debated whether to strip Astana of their WorldTour licence after last year’s doping scandals, it will be a big relief to all involved to be making headlines for the right reasons.