Bruges (Belgium) (AFP)
The Italian Filippo Ganna remained master of the time trial in the cycling world championships on Sunday in Bruges (Belgium), at the opening of the competitions.
Ganna, defending champion, beat Belgian Wout van Aert by 5 seconds, already second last year in Imola (Italy).
Another Belgian, Remco Evenepoel, took third place at 43 seconds after the 43.3 kilometers of the course.
Long holder of the best time, Evenepoel (2nd in 2019) saw his time improved by the last two starters, van Aert then Ganna.
The 25-year-old Italian scored his 16th road success, his 14th in a time trial.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the tall Piedmontese (1.93 m) only took 5th place.
On the other hand, he had excelled on the track, leading the pursuit team to the gold medal and the 4 kilometer world record.
On the ultra-flat course from Knokke-Heist to Bruges, Ganna turned the situation around in the last kilometers.
6 seconds ahead by van Aert at the first intermediate score (Km 13.8), he fell to less than a second at the second score (Km 33.3) before taking the advantage in the final.
The European champion, the Swiss Stefan Küng, took 5th place, at 1:06, behind the Dane Kasper Asgreen.
Italian Filippo Ganna during the individual time trial of the World Road Cycling Championships in Bruges, September 19, 2021 DAVID STOCKMAN BELGA / AFP
For his part, the winner of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, ranked 10th, at 1 min 52 sec.
On the French side, Rémi Cavagna (14th at 1 min 59 sec) only came close to a place in the top 10.
© 2021 AFP