Italy’s Filippo Ganna dominated the stage 10 time trial at the Giro d’Italia, with a winning margin of nearly two minutes.
Ganna, 29, of the British Netcompany Ineos Cycling team, beat team-mate Thymen Arensman, of the Netherlands, by one minute 54 seconds, with France’s Remi Cavagna of Groupama-FDJ in third, five seconds further back.
Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark, favourite to take the pink jersey for the overall winner in Rome on 31 May, finished 13th, three minutes down.
Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard, of Visma-Lease a Bike, failed to take the pink jersey in Massa, near Pisa, as some thought he would. It meant Portugal’s unfancied Afonso Eulalio remained in the leader’s jersey for a sixth day.
Vingegaard, however, gained time on Bahrain-Victorious’ Eulalio, who was 41st on the stage. The Dane sits second overall, just 27 seconds off the lead.
Arensman is third overall, one minute and 57 seconds behind Eulalio.
The 42km time trial – the longest in any Grand Tour for more than a decade – resulted in huge gaps between riders of different abilities, with many gasping for breath as they crossed the line.
Ganna, who was time trial world champion in 2020 and 2021, and was favourite to win on Tuesday, achieved an average speed of 54.921km/h for his team, who announced a new sponsorship deal with Danish data company Netcompany before this three-week race.
The deal restores the once-dominant multiple Tour de France winners as a ‘super team’ in the sport with one of the highest budgets.
“The team did an amazing job over the winter,” said Ganna afterwards. “It’s really nice with a long time trial like this – maybe me and some other guys were a little bit at the limit.
“We hope to enjoy tonight and stay focused for the last 14 days [of the race].”
