As it happened: Pogačar smashes Perugia TT

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Slovenian beats Ganna as Thomas struggles in 40.6km individual time trial

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Buongiorno and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 7 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia!

We're set for a dramatic day against the clock - likely to reset the order at the top of the race.
The action will kick off shortly at 13:10 CET with Julius van den Berg off first.

Check out the full start list from stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia.

Already drawing attention from the ground is a brand new time trial helmet being sported by Ineos Grenadiers riders. We can't help wondering about the UCI compliance...

165 riders are still in the Giro and click below to see their start times today. 

Bip, bip, bip, bip beep! 

Ryan Mullen (Bora-Hansgrohe) is second off. The Irish national champion could set the early fastest time today. 

The race for the general classification will be among the later starters, with Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) set to go at 15:42.

Josef Cerny (Soudal Quick Step) is also off and likely to do a good ride.

The climb to Perugia makes it a difficult time trial for the big pure time trialist like Ganna, Cerny, Edoardo Affini, Mikkel Bjerg, who may also have to save himself for the his roel as a key domestique for Pogačar.

For a full preview of the time trial and for what it will mean for the GC battle, read Barry Ryan's excellent preview feature. 

Next off is Tim van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike) but he is not using the Giro Aerohead II time trial helmet.

Remember the Giro Aerohead II time trial helmet? It emerged at Tirreno-Adriatico and caused a lot of debate. 

After Team Visma-Lease a Bike unveiled of the Giro Aerohead II time trial helmet, the UCI issued a statement, announcing it will carry out an "in-depth analysis" of its rules governing time trial helmet design. 

In recent weeks, other helmet brands have also created bigger and wider aero TT helmets. 

Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) starts his TT and he is wearing the Giro Aerohead II time trial helmet.

Performance, aerodynamics and optimisation are everything in time trials. 

Former world TT champion Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) sets off. 

Ouch! 

The intermediate checks come at 18.6km and 34km before the flat run-out turns into an ascent to the finish line.

Josef Cerny starts the 6km climb to the finish in Perugia. 

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) starts, wearing the cyclamen points jersey. 

Fellow Italian Filippo Ganna starts in just half an hour. 

Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) is fast on the flat, striaght roads. He is only three seconds slower than Cerny at the intermediate split.

Mullen is the first finisher in central Perugia. 

But here comes Cerny and he is at lot faster. 

Affini is on he climb to the finish and clearly suffering due to the gradient.  

Michael Hepburn (Jayco AlUla) finishes but took it steady today, finishing more than four minutes slower than Cerny. 

Meanwhile Mikkel Bjerg starts. 

Daan Hoole finishes fast and sets the new best time!

The climb to the line is making a big difference on the finish times. 

Affini is fast but sets a time of 54:26, just 10 seconds slower than Hoole.

Here we go! Filippo Ganna is off! 

Ganna is not happy after he hit a spectators' arm just before a turn. 

Lorenzo Milesi finishes. The Under 23 TT world champion is 20 seconds faster than Hoole. He set 53:56. Wow! 

Ganna is flying. He has just caught his minute-man! 

He dives into a series of corners corners, almost touching the barriers with his shoulders. 

Ganna dives through a sweeping curve and his wheel jumps slightly. He's taking risks today to try to win the stage.

Ganna sets a time of 21:15 at the first intermediate time split, 24 faster than Cerny. 

15km to go for Ganna. He has caught and passed a third rider, Vadim Pronskiy
of Astana Qazaqstan.    

Ganna is trying to stay as aero as possible, keeping his head low and close to the aero bars.

Milesi is still the fastest in 53:56 and so in the hot seat. 

Ganna reaches the second intermediate point in a time of 38:38. That is 1:19 faster than Affini. He caught a fourth rider just before. 

Mikkel Bjerg of UAE finishes and sets the new fastest tine of 53:40. He will go into the hot seat, at least until Ganna arrives. 

Ganna is powering up the climb to the finish, holding his brake levers but trying to stay aero and with a high cadence. 

Ganna is like a metronome as he powers on the pedals. 

Filippo Ganna at speed during the Giro d'Italia time trial

Filippo Ganna at speed during the Giro d'Italia time trial (Image credit: Getty Images)

Ganna opts for a low gear for a steep section up to the edge of Perugia. 

There is a special reason why Ganna can change gear so often and so quickly, while using a single front chain ring. 

Ganna has a new marginal gain for the TT and we can reveal it. 

Ganna finishes and sets a time of  52:01. He is 1:39 faster than Bjerg. 

Ganna went so deep and so hard that team staff are holding him up on his bike.

He is now slumped on the steps of the podium as he tries to recover.

Can anyone beat Ganna's time of 52:01. Perhaps only one rider and he is off last today and will race in the pink jersey.

It will also be interesting to see how Luke Plapp performs. 

Luke Plapp is off and starts his 40.6km TT. He could climb further up the GC today and even move into the top five. 

Meanwhile Tadej Pogacar is warming up in the shade of the UAE team truck. 

The USA's Will Barta (Movistar) finishes 2:40 down on Ganna but in seventh place. 

Pogacar is warming up in the two-tone skinsuit made by race jersey sponsor Castelli. 

Magnus Sheffield is on the climb to Perugia. We understand that he is also using the Classified 'front derailleur killer' hub at the Giro d'Italia.

Geraint Thomas is also on the turbo, warming up for his time trial ride. 

Max Schachmann finishes fast and sets 52:49. That is only 49 seconds down on Ganna and second fastest.  That's a superb rider by the Bora rider. 

Here comes Magnus Sheffield. The young American sets 52: 33. 

Plapp is 49 seconds slower than Ganna at the first intermediate time check. He is only 11th of the riders who have raced so far. 

This was the moment when Ganna stopped the clock.  

Thymen Arensman of Ineos in the final climb. He doing a good ride.  

Cian Uijtdebroeks is off, wearing the white jersey as best young rider. 

Martinez, Thomas and Pogacar are in the start house and doing their final mental preparations after swapping first pumps.

Thymen Arensman finishes in a time of 53:44  but Ineos are dominating so far.

Their team leader Geraint Thoms sets off for his ride.

He's off! Pogacar starts his time trial.

For the next 53 minutes it's a race for every second.

The TV motorbike is tucked low near the road as it follows Pogacar.

Of course, the TT is more than a Pogacar-Ganna or Pogacar-Thomas battle.   

Luke Plapp finishes sixth, 1:28 to Ganna. We'll know post-stage exactly how many places he climbs in the GC.

Pogacar has covered 10km and seems focused and aero as he paces his ride on the straight flat road from Foligno towards Perugia. 

At the first time split, Cian Uijtdebroeks loses 1:41 to Ganna. That's a lot but has to be compared to his GC and white jersey rivals.

Geraint Thomas is fighting a huge gear, using a 66 single chainring. 

Pogacar reaches the first time split. He is eight seconds faster than Thomas after 18km. 

Ben O'Connor sets a time of 53:51. That's 7th fastest so far. That's a good time for the GC contender. 

Pogacar is still on the valley toad and trying to catch anything that remains from the motorbike slipstream that is 50 metres head of him.

Pogacar has 20km to race.

Thomas has a much lower cadence than Pogacar but it seems effective. 

Barry Ryan and Alasdair Fotheringham are at the finish for Cyclingnews and have told us that O'Connor's chain came off during the TT. He had to stop and he thinks it lost 30 seconds due to the problem.

“I tried to get it back on while I was still moving but I had to stop. I eventually got it back on with a mechanic but it was pretty average to lose that time because I think I actually did a really good ride, my power was good.” O’Connor said.

O'Connor revealed he used 58-44 chainrings. He tried a 46 in his final recon of the climb but it was too big.

This is a thriller as Pogacar, Thomas and the GC riders race to Perugia. 

Cian Uijtdebroeks is on the climb and has switched a small chainring.

Dani Martinez is chasing him and is also on the climb. 

Thomas is 1:27  slower than Ganna at the 2nd time check. Has he slowed a little? Has the wind placed a factor for the final riders?

Pogacar is only 47 seconds slower than Ganna at time check 2! 

Pogacar starts the climb and dances on the pedal. 

Pogacar has gained 40 seconds on Thomas so far and there is still the climb to the finish to cover. 

Can Pogacar even beat Ganna and win the stage? It could be close. 

Thomas is fighting and trying to stay in an aero tuck even on parts of the climb.

The climb is packed with tifosi and they cheer on Pogacar.

It seems Thomas is losing more and more time to Pogacar.

Cian Uijtdebroeks sets a time of 54:39.

Cian Uijtdebroeks has lost the white jersey to Luke Plapp.

Thomas is on a steep section of the climb. He tries to up the speed by pushing on the pedals but Pogacar is gaining time.

Dani Martinez sets 53:33, only 1:32 down on Ganna. That's a great ride for his GC hopes.

Thomas is next in, then Pogacar.

Geraint Thomas stops the clock in a time of 53:44 

Here comes Pogacar! 

He's fast, very fast! 

Pogacar sets a time of 51:44 and wins the stage!!!

He beat Ganna by 17 seconds! 

Pogacar now leads Dani Martinez by 2:36 in the Giro GC.

While Thomas struggled on the climb to Perugia, Pogacar flew and pulled back a huge amount of time.

He knew he had won he stage and punched the air in celebration as he crossed the line.

Here's Pogacar in action and at sped on the climb.

Ganna watched Pogacar race from the hot seat but could only shake hands with
his rivals as head away in defeat.

Pogacar's time gains are huge. 

The new GC includes that big time gaps.

Thomas spoke briefly at the finish. He naturally not happy with his ride.

There was also time for fair play. 

Pogacar is in control of the Giro now but the races switches again on Saturday, with the first real mountain stage deep into the central Apennines with a 14km climb to Prato di Tivo.  

Pogacar enjoys his moment on the podium. His lock of blonde hair is again sticking out below his cap as he collects the different prizes for winning the time trial.  

Now Pogacar pulls on the maglia rosa. 

Sometimes Pogacar seems a little bored with the post-race obligations and keen to get away to rest up but today he seems genuinely happy today.   

Pogacar was proud of his performance as much as his time gain.

Pogacar admitted he did not have a lot of information from the team car. He just went all out.

This is the spectacular final kilometre of Pogavar's time trial, as he  snatches the stage victory from Ganna and gains huge amounts of time on his GC rivals. 

As the dust settles o the stage, this is the stage result and GC from our friends at First Cycling.

To read our full stage report and see our growing photo gallery from the TT, click below.  

We also report on how Ganna, Thomas and other riders at Ineos used the Classified 'front derailleur killer' hub so they could use a single chainring set-up for better aerodynamics and chain line.

The sun was out in Umbria for the time trial but there are concerns about the huge snow that has fallen in the high mountains recently. Barry Ryan has that story from Perugia 

We also have reports on the first stage of the Itzulia Women race and the Tour de Hongrie.

Thanks for joining Cyclingnews for our live stage coverage. 

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