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Turin (AP) - On the well-filled streets of Turin, Emanuel Buchmann started the 104th Giro d'Italia almost as expected with a handicap.
The bearer of hope for the first German podium placement in the history of the tour lost a total of 55 seconds to the Italian winner of the day and world champion Filippo Ganna in the opening time trial over 8.6 kilometers and thus only finished 104th. Even compared to his rivals in the overall standings, Buchmann lost a few seconds, which he now has to make up for in the mountains.
The deficit came as no surprise, because the 59 kilogram climbing specialist is anything but a good time trial.
For this reason, Buchmann does not start the less mountainous Tour de France in summer.
The loss of seconds still hurts: for example, the Belgian child prodigy Remco Evenepoel (0:19 minutes back), Simon Yates (Great Britain / 0: 38), ex-Tour champion Egan Bernal (Colombia / 0: 39) and veteran Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / 0: 41) all faster.
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Buchmann, who was fourth overall in the Tour de France in 2019, wants to be the first German to get on the podium at the Tour of Italy.
The profile suits the climbing specialist.
More than 47,000 vertical meters have to be covered on the 3479.9 kilometer route from Turin to Milan.
«I know that I have what it takes to get on the podium.
And if you can do that, victory is usually not far away, ”said the Ravensburger before the start.
Buchmann feels ready for the big coup: “I'm fit to the point.
We are exactly where we wanted to be at the start of the Giro. "
The shape is just as good, if not better than at the Tour de France two years ago.
At that time, Buchmann was fourth.
The captain of the German Bora-hansgrohe team has to score points in the mountains.
He had no chance in the time trial.
Ganna, who had already won all three time trials at the Giro last year, won by ten seconds over his compatriot Edoardo Affini and 13 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Tobias Voss.
«I am happy to be back.
I said to myself: 100 percent full throttle, ”said Ganna.
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The performance of Evenepoel, who made his comeback almost nine months after his pelvic fracture on the Lombardy Tour and raced straight to seventh place, was also remarkable.
Directly behind, Max Walscheid was eighth as the best of eight German professional cyclists, also 19 seconds behind.
At the Giro, cycling also returns to normal to a certain extent.
Spectators were allowed on the track in Turin, albeit with a mask and distance.
In Italy there had already been easing recently, although the incidence values are at the level of Germany.
On Sunday, the sprinters could first come into play.
The second section over 179 kilometers from Stupinigi to Novara leads over flat terrain.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210508-99-521018 / 2
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