Turin (Italy) (AFP)
Italy started the Giro at high speed, Saturday in Turin, with the victory of its world time trial champion, Filippo Ganna, who got back in line to don the first pink jersey of the edition 2021.
Defeated in the Tour de Romandie last week, the Piedmontese dominated the exercise at more than 58 km / h on average.
He even came close to the speed record in a Giro time trial to push back his compatriot Edoardo Affini to 10 seconds after 8.6 kilometers of a fast and level course traced in the main arteries of Turin, along of the Po for the most part.
“I won it with my head,” smiled Ganna, whose tall build (1.93m for 82kg) delivers devastating power on a bike simmering in every detail.
Right down to the titanium screws, usually used in the aeronautical industry, and the 3D printed handlebars adapted to the morphology of the Ineos team rider.
"We can not be competitive all season, I prefer to be ready for the big meetings", underlined the Italian to explain his poor performances in the last time trial breaking with his irresistible series of the autumn past (world title and the three times of the Giro).
Especially since he made a great goal for the Tokyo Olympics, where he thinks of doubling road and track in the team pursuit.
- Evenepoel 7th and satisfied -
The dominance of Ganna, 24 years old and now five stage successes in the Giro, eclipsed the match between the Deceuninck and Jumbo teams who confiscated, between them, the next six places.
With an advantage for the Dutch team (Affini 2nd, Foss 3rd, van Emden 6th) compared to its Belgian rival, reduced to accessits like the French time trial champion Rémi Cavagna (5th).
In consolation, the Portuguese Joao Almeida signed the best performance of the candidates for the podium.
Fourth on the stage, Almeida even did better than Remco Evenepoel, seventh for his return to competition after his long absence due to his serious fall from the Tour of Lombardy last summer.
Emu, the young Belgian (21) said "to be happy" with his result: "It's what we call making a comeback the hard way. I did not expect to have to suffer so much. I didn't really think about winning. I just wanted to feel that pain again and I felt it. Seventh place is fantastic. "
While he was just 7 seconds behind Russian Aleksandr Vlasov, Almeida took about 20 seconds from most of his rivals, classified more or less in the same waters.
Mainly the top two favorites, Briton Simon Yates and Colombian Egan Bernal, separated by a single second.
For the Spaniard Mikel Landa (32 sec on Almeida) and the French Romain Bardet (35 sec), the disbursement turned out to be more important.
But the two climbers got away without damage unlike the unlucky one of the day, the Latvian Krists Neilands, victim of a fall on his bike on his way back to his hotel.
Neilands, who is due to undergo surgery for a fractured right clavicle, is forced to forfeit the second leg between Stupinigi, near Turin, and Novara, still in the province of Piedmont.
The 179-kilometer course bodes well for a sprint.
A godsend for Ganna who announced: "I hope to keep the pink jersey as long as possible. But, in the Giro, the priority goes to the leaders of the team."
© 2021 AFP