Juan Ayuso won the opening time trial of the 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico, pulling on the blue, white and cyclamen leader's jerseys as he dominated the first stage and first battle between the overall contenders. Everyone else pulled on psychologically heavy time loss, immediately turning the Italian race into a handicap race.
Ayuso gained 22 seconds on Jonas Vingegaard and even more on his other overall rivals. In 2023, Primoz Roglic beat João Almeida by just 18 seconds, with Tao Geoghegan Hart third at 23 seconds. Ayuso already has a hypothetical winning margin and a significant psychological advantage over everyone else.
The UAE Team Emirates leader can enjoy stage 2 in the sky blue leader's jersey, with the sprinters expected to control the 198 km south to Follonica. Stage 3 to Gualdo Tadino ends with a gradual rise to the finish but should also suit some fast finishers, while the late climb on stage 4 in Giulianova should not be a problem either.
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The mountains of the 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico route begin on stage 5 to Valle Castellana but it is only 144 km long. Saturday's 180km sixth stage from Sassoferrato to Monte Petrano will be the decisive day for Ayuso and Vingegaard. The testing mountain road to the line is 101 km long and climbs at 8 per cent.
Filippo Ganna is just one second down on the Spaniard but is not an overall threat, neither are Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) who finished second and third in the 10km out and back seafront time trial.
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) is seventh overall at 17 seconds and perhaps a threat but Vingegaard is a more distant 22 seconds after finishing ninth on the day.
The Tour de France winner opted to start his time trial very early and was the third rider down the start ramp, in the hope of finding a moment without a breeze and to avoid any rain showers. It almost worked but the roads were still a little damp from overnight rain and a few drops soon fell.
Vingegaard did not have a poor ride and seemed at ease in his new Giro aero helmet. He simply did not take too many risks on a power course that did not suit him, especially on the complex turn point and chicane near the finish.
Vingegaard was back in his hotel before Ayuso set off. Calm as ever, he was not perturbed by the 22-second time loss.
"I am quite satisfied with the time trial I rode," Vingegaard said.
"The feeling was already good. There are still many stages to come where a lot can happen. I'm really looking forward to that."
Directeur sportif Grischa Niermann also tried to see the positive side of Vingegaard finishing ninth on the stage and ahead of all his GC rivals bare Ayuso.
"In hindsight, a place in the top ten is a fine result," Niermann said. "We had calculated a smaller gap to Juan Ayuso beforehand, but Jonas proved the second fastest classification rider. He's still in a good position in view of what lies ahead in the next few days."
Jai Hindley (bora-Hansgrohe) started late and took advantage of the dry roads to finish 24 seconds down on Ayuso. That also keeps him in the GC battle, with Lennard Kamna at 26 seconds and Dani Marinez at 27 seconds, despite a crash and hard race at Saturday's Strade Bianche.
"It was a good day for the whole team with all our GC guys up there. I'm happy with my ride, especially after having worked a lot on the TT bike," Hindley said.
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) were caught in the only rain shower of the day just after lunchtime and so had to sacrifice speed for safety.
The Western Australian did well to only lose 30 seconds but Carapaz surely lost any chance of overall victory on day 1, losing 1:06.
Tom Pidcock fared better but also shipped 33 significant seconds in 10km, finishing in 33rd place. His Ineos Grenadiers teammate Magnus Sheffield suffered a painful ride, sliding out on an early chicane section and suffering road rash on his left side.
Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) also compromised his overall ambitions for safety on the damp roads and four complex chicanes. He lost 35 seconds. Enrico Mas (Movistar) lost 38 seconds, his week in Italy is already an uphill battle before the first climb of the race.
