Tirreno-Adriatico: Filippo Ganna seizes stage 1 time trial victory

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In a reversal of the result of the Tirreno-Adriatico opener last year, Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) took the victory and the first blue jersey of the race, beating Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in Lido di Camaiore.

Setting off as the 154th of 166 runners, Ayuso hit the top of the timesheets to displace long-time leader Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with a time of 12:40 over the 11.5km out-and-back course.

However, Ganna, the 164th man down the start ramp, had eyes on a 31st career time trial win, his first since the Italian Championships last June. He trailed Ayuso by two seconds at the 4.5km checkpoint, but quickly turned things around to take a commanding lead on the road.

At the finish line, that two-second deficit had turned into a large 23-second advantage as Ganna secured what turned out to be a dominant victory with an average speed of 56.125kph – the only man to average over 55kph.

With Ganna’s time of 12:17 easily at the top of the final stage result, it meant Ayuso would take second spot on the podium while Price-Pejtersen, who had previously sat in the hot seat for two hours, took third place with a time of 12:45.

Behind the podium trio, Antonio Tiberi would prove the strongest of the GC contenders outside of Ayuso. The Bahrain Victorious racer would be just one of 11 riders to go under the 13-minute mark, setting a time of 12:46 at the finish.

Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) at 12:51 and Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at 12:55 were among the other impressive performers among the GC names on the startlist. Others, including Simon Yates (Visma-Lease A Bike), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) lay outside the 13:10 mark.

How it Unfolded

Tirreno-Adriatico 2025 opened with an 11.5km time trial in Lido di Camaiore, following an out-and-back route up the Tyrrhenian coast. The pan-flat course headed north for 4.5km before an intermediate time check at the hairpin before the 7km run back south to the finish.

Former U23 world time trial champion Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was the strongest of the early runners. Heading out as the 19th rider, he was comfortably quickest at the checkpoint and the finish, with his time of 12:45 the first of the day under 13 minutes.

Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) would come the closest to the Dane among the remainder of the first 50 riders. The Frenchman’s time of 12:58 and the Norwegian’s time of 12:54 saw them round out the provisional podium.

Sprinter Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) would come the closest to overhauling Price-Pejtersen. The Italian had a speedy start to his run to edge out the leader by fractions of a second at the checkpoint. However, he faded on the run to the finish, ending up with a time of 12:48 to just miss out on the top spot.

Along the way, several riders hoping to make their mark on the general classification set their times. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) recorded a time of 13:13, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) set a time of 13:26, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) came home with a 13:11, while Simon Yates (Visma-Lease A Bike) finished with a 13:12.

All would be beaten by Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), however. The Italian would join his former teammate Price-Pejtersen at the top of the standings as he crossed the line just one second shy of the Dane with a time of 12:46.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG youngster Isaac Del Toro would be another to record a top time at the finish. The Mexican went fifth at the line with a time of 12:55.

British duo Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) would follow along shortly afterwards, with the pair recording times of 13:24 and 13:20.

Other GC contenders came and went, setting decent times without troubling the top spots, but at that late stage all eyes were on the third-last starter, the double time trial world champion and double Lido di Camaiore time trial winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).

In the meantime, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) finished with a 13:32, Ion Izagirre (Bahrain Victorious) with a 13:14, Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) with a 13:19, Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) with a 13:09, and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with a 13:13.

It would take another among UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s suite of GC riders to challenge Price-Pejtersen at the top of the leaderboards, with Juan Ayuso putting up a time of 15:14 – nine seconds up on the Dane – at the checkpoint.

The Spaniard, who won the same stage last March, kept up the pace on the closing leg of the time trial, eventually crossing the line six seconds up on Price-Pejtersen at 12:40 to take the hot seat with an average speed of 54.426kph.

Ganna, second by a solitary second to Ayuso last year, was already out on the course at that point, though several other major names lay between the pair. Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep) went fifth with a time of 12:53 followed up by Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) with a time of 12:51.

Ganna, meanwhile, came to the checkpoint trailing Ayuso’s best time by two seconds, meaning the fight for the stage victory would go all the way to the line. It turned out to be a dominant win, with the Italian blitzing the rest of the course to finish with a time of 12:17.

All that was left was for the final man on the startlist to complete his race. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) closed out proceedings with a time of 14 minutes dead to put the Colombian in 133rd overall.

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