UAE Team Emirates’ Valerio Conti achieved his best result of the season after finishing 12th on the first stage of the Giro d’Italia on Friday.

The Rome native completed the 9.7km time trial in 12:31 – 29 seconds behind defending champion and stage winner Tom Dumoulin.

The 25-year-old said: “I liked the hilly course, I put the hammer down on the hills and I took the proper risks, however avoiding to risk too much.

“I happy with my performance, it’s a pity I missed the white jersey by a few seconds but there is loads of racing left to get the best out of myself.”

Meanwhile, team captain Fabio Aru – who was runner up in the 2015 edition – finishes 47th with a time of 12:52 and will be eyeing the mountain stages in the latter part of the tour to really make his mark.

The Sardinian native, who finished sixth at the Tour of the Alps two weeks ago, is relishing the prospect of challenging Dumoulin and Chris Froome when the race returns to Italy on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old said: “Dumoulin exploited one of the stages which suits him most, I did not risk too much because this morning, during the recon, I noticed that the course was complicated.

“I’m happy the Giro has started, there are 20 days ahead of us for trying to achieve something good. I’m looking forward to it all.”

“Conti’s performance today was impressive and he’ll be a precious help for me during the Giro”.

Best for UAE Team Emirates were: Diego Ulissi (23rd), Marco Marcato (28th), Jan Polanc (59th), Vegard Laengen (86th) and Darwin Atapuma (150th).

Saturday’s second stage will be a 167 km pan-flat course running from Haifa to Tel Aviv.