Simon Yates wins Tirreno-Adriatico

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Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) withstood pressure put onto him by British compatriot Geraint Thomas (Ineos) to secure the overall victory at Tirreno-Adriatico.

The pure climber managed to produce a great performance in a discipline that is unfavourable to him, finishing 17th on the stage 10km time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto. 

Despite posting the fourth fastest time on the stage, Thomas was only able to gain 22 of the 39 seconds he needed to dethrone Yates as overall winner.

Thomas at least managed to swap places with Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), who dropped to third overall.

“I tried to do my best,” said Yates at the finish. “I was nervous before because of the situation, and I really just wanted to finish off the work from my team. They’ve been fantastic all week, and today it was up to me. I’m really happy I could pull it off.

“I lost the Tour de Romandie [in 2017] in the final time trial, so I really didn’t want to do the same again.”

Yates now turns his attention towards the Giro d’Italia.  “We’re still weeks away before we start, and until the end it’s still a long time away. I think the usual guys who are always there in Grand Tours will be there. I hope to hold my form all the way, and I hope to be there as well.” 

Filippo Ganna (Ineos), meanwhile, claimed the stage victory, having posted a devastating time of 10:42.

Victor Campanaerts (NTT Pro Cycling) finished second with a time of 11:00, while Rohan Dennis (Ineos) was third a further eight seconds adrift. 

It is the 24-year-old Italian’s second win of the season following the Italian national championships, and second at WorldTour level alongside the stage six time trial of last year’s BinckBank Tour.  

He is also setting his sights on the Giro d’Italia, especially the opening stage, which he has his eyes on winning.

“I hope to arrive on the podium [on the first stage]. For the moment I think to recover well. It’s my first Giro, and I hope to arrive well.”

How it unfolded

The 2020 Tirreno-Adriatico concluded with a familiar time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto, on the same route that has been used in each edition since 2015.

At just 10.05km in length, it was not long enough to cause huge ruptures between the favourites. However, with Rafał Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) just sixteen seconds behind Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) in first overall, and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Alexandr Vlasov (Astana), Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) all within one minute of Yates, the top of the overall classification was close enough for plenty of movement. 

Before battle commenced among the GC favourites, the contest to take the stage victory took prominence, as time trial specialists who have waited the whole race for this stage at last got their day in the spotlight. 

As the first individual time trial at WorldTour level since the return of racing post-lockdown, this was not only a rare opportunity for specialists to bag themselves a win this season, but also handy preparation ahead of the World Championships time trial, taking place eleven days from now.

One specialist, Matthias Brändle (Israel Start-Up Nation), was the first rider of the ramp, setting a time of 11:30, a time which remained the benchmark for the first forty minutes. 

His lead was put under threat by Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe), Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling) and Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton-Scott), all three of whom set a faster pace at the intermediate sprint, only to fade in the final stretch.

But Filippo Ganna was on a whole other level altogether. The Italian time trial champion made a mockery of these times, smashing Brandle’s time by 18 seconds at the intermediate sprint, and 48 seconds at the finish. 

With Italian road champion Giacomo Nizzolo not able to adorn the national champions jersey (the European champions jersey he won in Plouay takes precedence), this was a rare chance to see the Il Tricolore jersey in all its glory. Ganna did the jersey justice, looking smooth and streamlined as he produced devastating watts to become the first and only rider to finish this course in under eleven seconds.  

The biggest threats to his stage victory hopes were due on the road shortly after he had arrived at the finish. Hour record holder and last year’s winner of this stage Victor Campanaerts (NTT Pro Cycling) pushed Ganna close at the start of the course, coming within five seconds at the intermediate checkpoint but faded to 20 seconds at the finish.

Then reigning world champion Rohan Dennis followed a similar pattern, coming within five seconds of his Ineos’ teammates time at the intermediate point, but tiring in the second half to finish 26 seconds down and place third on the leaderboard behind Campanaerts. 

With the other specialist pre-stage favourites defeated, Ganna faced a long wait at the clubhouse until the GC riders were due out on the road. 

In the meantime, the Groupama-FDJ duo of Tobias Ludvigsson and Benjamin Thomas both set competitive times to place fourth and fifth respectively on the leaderboard, but neither were anywhere near Ganna. 

Of the GC favourites, only Geraint Thomas was able to come anywhere near Gana, and even he was well adrift, at 29 seconds at the finish. 

But Thomas’ eyes were on the grander prize of overall victory. 

Things weren’t looking promising for the Welshman at the intermediate split, however, where a committed Yates was just a single second slower than him.

Yates did slow down in the final part of the route, but his fine effort over the first half gave hmi enough leeway to hold onto the blue jersey. Thomas ultimately had to settle for second overall, just ahead of Rafal Majka in third. 

Elsewhere in the top six, the only other change saw Wilco Kelderman leapfrog both best young rider Alexandr Vlasov and Fausto Masnada into fourth overall.