Methods of starting a wind turbine from a standstill substantially until generator connection, the wind turbine having a rotor with one or more blades, a pitch system for rotating the blades along their longitudinal axes and a generator operationally connected with the rotor. In standstill, the blades are substantially in a feathered position and the generator is not generating electrical power. The methods may comprise measuring the wind speed representative for the wind turbine and measuring the rotor speed of the wind turbine, and when the rotor speed is not equal to zero, determining the tip speed ratio for the wind turbine, and determining the pitch angle of the blades as a function of the tip speed ratio to optimize the torque produced by the blades of the wind turbine rotor.