Bradley Wiggins in the pink after racing to Amsterdam time-trial victory

BRITAIN'S Bradley Wiggins sped around the picturesque streets of Amsterdam to win the prologue of the Giro d'Italia yesterday and lay down a marker for the three-week race.

The Team Sky rider, among the favourites for overall glory, grabbed the leader's maglia rosa, the pink jersey, by completing the time trial in ten minutes 18 seconds to hold a two-second lead over Brent Bookwalter and Australian world champion Cadel Evans. "I did my own race. It felt good," Wiggins, pictured right, who finished fourth in last year's Tour de France, said.

Scot David Millar (Garmin) was seventh.

Sullen skies and drizzle in the Netherlands greeted the 198 riders from 34 nations who criss-crossed the famous canals individually before finishing the 8.4-km route by the city's ageing Olympic Stadium.

The spectacular start took place on a pontoon in the middle of a pond in the city's Museumplein, with the huge Rijksmuseum hidden from view by scaffolding during renovation work.

The Giro itself had been trying to rebuild its reputation since last year's runner- up Danilo Di Luca was banned for doping, but a fresh blow arrived on Monday when the potential favourite, Franco Pellizotti, was told he will face doping charges.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said his biological passport had suspicious data and he was pulled out of the race.

The absence of big names such as Alberto Contador of Spain and Lance Armstrong of the US, who will concentrate on July's Tour de France, has also hurt the Giro's standing this year.

Amsterdam shone in orange for last week's celebrated Queen's Day festival and race organisers tried, with partial success, to replicate the idea and turn the city pink in honour of the Giro's signature colour.

A decent-sized crowd lined the route with special cheers reserved for the home Rabobank team and the eight Dutch riders.

They failed to threaten at the top of the leaderboard where American Bookwalter made a surprise appearance having managed the same time as BMC team-mate Evans.

The race, which has often started or passed through other countries than Italy and could begin in the United States in 2012 under ambitious plans, stays in the cycling-mad Netherlands for two more days before returning home.

Today's 210km stage runs between Amsterdam and Utrecht, while the third stage, on Monday, finishes in Middelburg. The race ends in Verona on 30 May.