Ganna storms to victory in Tirreno-Adriatico time trial opener

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Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) claimed his third time trial win of the season with a dominant ride at the Tirreno-Adriatico opener in Lido di Camaiore.

In the first showdown of 2022 between the world champion and Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), the Belgian came off second best on the 13.9-kilometre course along the Tyrrhenian seafront. A two-second deficit at the intermediate checkpoint turned into 10 seconds at the line as Ganna took the 19th win of his career.

Race favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) rounded out the podium, 18 seconds down on Ganna, meaning that Evenepoel had landed the first GC blow of the race, ending his day eight seconds up on the Slovenian.

"Today it was a special race," Ganna said after the finish. "I have pushed a lot for the team to come here because I love this race, and today I showed how much I want to win this race. It's an important result for me and the team and now we think about tomorrow.

"When we started it was a lot of headwind, and I think 'ah, today is hard' but then after the turn, you see the speed improve, stayed at 55kph. It's a special race and a special result. At the moment it's a good time gap but tomorrow is a hard day with a sprint and we'll see how it concerns the jersey.

"For sure I'll support the team like Richie [Porte] and Richard [Carapaz]. Then we'll see if my legs are ready to arrive in more stages. For sure we need to save a little energy because in less than two weeks we have a special race in Italy, and I want to arrive with good legs," he concluded, hinting at Milan-San Remo.

Beyond the top trio, Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Alex Dowsett (Israel-Premier Tech) completed the top five, with the Briton having held the quickest time for much of the day.

Miguel Angel López (Astana Qazaqstan) was the best of the rest among the GC men, finishing 11th at 31 seconds down on Evenepoel, level on time with Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers).

Elsewhere, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) ceded 36 seconds to the Belgian, his teammate Richie Porte is 40 seconds back, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) a further two seconds down, Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) is at 52 seconds, and Enric Mas (Movistar) is 59 seconds behind Evenepoel.

How it unfolded

In a mirror image of the regular Tirreno-Adriatico parcours, the 2022 edition kicked off with a short, pan-flat, out-and-back, seaside time trial. The usual start town of Lido di Camaiore played host to the 13.9-kilometre test, an early quarter of an hour or so to put some time between the GC contenders at the Race of the Two Seas.

Former world Hour Record holder Alex Dowsett (Israel-Premier Tech) was among the early pace setters, unseating Josef Cerny (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) with a time of 15:42 at the line, the Briton the first man to break the 16-minute barrier.

Dowsett was the 21st rider of the day to start his race and honestly logged the last notable ride for some time as non-specialist after non-specialist clocked non-descript times to fill out the middle of the standings sheet, Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) at 16:08 and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) at 16:23 the rare exceptions.

The 70th man off, Thymen Arensman (Team DSM) broke through with a 15:45 ride to put him into second, just a handful of seconds down on Dowsett. Swedish specialist Tobias Ludvigsson (Groupama-FDJ) also threatened the top of the standings, another rider to dip under 16 minutes at 15:49.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) started his race well with a negative split and a 15:59 at the finish, while shortly afterwards Jos Van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) jumped ahead of him with a time of 15:50 to grab fourth.

Dowsett's time in hot seat – almost two hours of waiting – was brought to an end by Danish TT champion Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaViny), who pipped him by just over a second as he sprinted to the line.

Following Asgreen's ride, all eyes were on world champion Ganna, who duly set the quickest time at the first checkpoint, a full nine seconds up on Dowsett after six kilometres. His main rival on the day, Evenepoel, crossed the check four minutes later just two seconds in arrears, setting up a tense run to the line.

Heading into the closing kilometre it was clear that Ganna would be quickest at the finish by some distance, with the Italian eventually finishing his effort in 15:17 for an average of 54.5kph. Evenepoel came in shortly afterwards but couldn't get close to his rival for the stage as he slotted into second place with a time of 15:28.

Reigning champion Pogačar was the last man to start his race, logging a 7:29 at the first checkpoint before improving on the way home to finish with the third-best time of 15:35, minimising his losses to Evenepoel just two days after his stunning 50-kilometre solo victory at Strade Bianche.