Vuelta a España: Ganna back on top in stage 10 TT, Evenepoel makes gains on GC rivals

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Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) blasted to his fifth victory of the season at the Vuelta a España stage 10 time trial in Valladolid, recording an average speed of 56kph on the flat 25.8km course with a time of 27:39.

“I’m really happy,” Ganna said after his victory. “After the Giro d’Italia, trying to win here is my goal, my dream.

“After the Worlds, I didn’t know if the team wanted me in the Vuelta or not, but I pushed a lot to be here with [Geraint Thomas] because we worked a lot at the Giro and also afterwards.

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“To be here now is amazing. To be fighting for a good [GC] position is hard, but we’ll try to do a good job.”

The Italian time trial champion beat world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) into second place, the Belgian proving to be the best of the general classification contenders as hostilities resumed after Monday’s rest day.

Evenepoel crossed the line at 27:55, just 16 seconds down on Ganna, putting a valuable 20 seconds into Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), who rounded out the day’s podium with a time of 28:15 at 36 seconds down.

The pair – who jump up to third and fourth overall with Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) dropping 2:29 – now look to be the main two favourites for the red jersey, each putting clear air between them and the rest of the GC favourites during the stage. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) proved to be the best of the rest at 50 seconds and 52 seconds down on Ganna.

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Enric Mas (Movistar) were among the riders to lose further ground, coming home at 1:11, 1:18, and 1:46 down.

Despite the GC movements, the red leader’s jersey hasn’t changed hands, with another major test looming on Wednesday’s stage 11 summit finish. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) may have crossed the line at 1:29 down Ganna and lost 17 seconds to second-placed Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) at the line, but he remains in the race lead with an advantage of 26 seconds over the Spaniard. 

Evenepoel now lies third overall at 1:09, while Roglič is in fourth place at 1:36.

“I think it’s pretty good,” Evenepoel said of his day on the bike. “Knowing that I didn’t have the best TT legs today. I had a difficult moment after 10 minutes, so I think that’s the reason why I lost some time on Pippo [Ganna]. But I think if a guy deserves this stage win, it’s him. So, I think overall, we should be happy with the GC result, but ofc it’s a pity we didn’t take the stage today.

“But two times second and already a stage win in the pocket is pretty nice for the first ten days of this Vuelta. We have to be happy with the GC gaps that I took today and coming quite closer to Sepp, who actually did a super good TT. Big congrats to him as well.

“I think [Jumbo-Visma] told [Kuss] to just go all out today to try and not lose too much time because I think they want to play the game with three leaders. I think he did a very good job and, like I said, a big chapeau to him because I was pretty surprised when I saw this finish.

“But in the end, it’s still a very long Vuelta, and there are many more opportunities to come, so we’ll try to go for it and keep on building. Thinking about how last weekend went and also today,  I think I’ve been showing three days of good level, so we have to keep on building with that and try to hope to take some more time in some other stages.”

How it unfolded

After Monday’s rest day in Valladolid, the Vuelta a España resumed again with stage 10, a 25.8km time trial in the city. The stage would bring another opportunity for the GC men at the top of the standings to do battle on a largely flat course featuring a technical run to start giving way to long straights in the second half suited to power riders with a tailwind run to the finish.

Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ) was the pacesetter among the early starters, even if there were no top favourites for the stage starting around him. The 25-year-old’s time of 30:55 would last until the 20th rider, compatriot Hugo Page (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), who went 39 seconds quicker at the finish to – briefly occupy the hot seat.

Five minutes later, he’d be out of it, too, as Swiss time trial specialist and European champion Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) blasted across the line as the first man under the 30-minute mark. Recording an average speed of 53.425kph, the 24-year-old stopped the clock at 28:58, which looked set to hold strong at the top of the order for some time.

Over the next 15 minutes, three riders would race to provisional second place, with Belgian veteran Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Dstny) setting a time of 30:13 before Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) rode an impressive 29:33 just a couple of minutes before Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) leapfrogged the pair of them with a time of 29:14.

Meanwhile, out on the course, double world time trial champion Filippo Ganna had started his ride, flying along to the first checkpoint with a time of 14:14 – 32 seconds up on Bissegger.

The second checkpoint, 21:21, brought him another 20 seconds on Bissegger, and that gap would only increase on the run to the line. Ganna eventually finished with an average speed of 55.968kph, his time of 27:39, obliterating Bissegger’s as he went quickest of anyone by 1:19.

Predictably, riders came and went after Ganna, with nobody able to get close to his blistering time. There were, however, some strong efforts by Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) at 30:14, Oier Lazkano (Movistar) at 29:41, Finn Fischer-Black (UAE Team Emirates) at 29:30, and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) at 30:10 over the course of the next hour.

Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) would go better still, both breaking the provisional top with times of 29:03 (fourth) and 28:51 (second), respectively as the GC top 20 began their efforts.

Oliveira would last 20 minutes in second on the leaderboard at 1:12 down on Ganna before Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep) sped through to nip home three seconds faster, the Italian having already passed both checkpoints as second quickest, too.

The big guns battling for the top of the general classification began rolling down the start ramp soon after, with Aleksandr Vlasov impressing at the first checkpoint, 23 seconds down on Ganna.

João Almeida at 34 seconds, Jonas Vingegaard at 25 seconds, and Juan Ayuso at 31 seconds also had good rides to the first checkpoint, while Enric Mas at 55 seconds and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) at 1:03 were, as expected, slower.

Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič were barely separable at the check, at 11 and 10 seconds behind Ganna, respectively.

Finally, among the top three, Lenny Martinez passed through at 1:16 down, while Marc Soler and Sepp Kuss were evenly matched at 36 and 40 seconds down.

The second check saw Vlasov impress again at 37 seconds down, with Almeida at 45 seconds and also impressive seven seconds up on teammate Ayuso. Vingegaard was slower than both at 55 seconds, while Roglič and Evenepoel reversed places, the Belgian flying but still losing ground to Ganna at 18 seconds down as the Slovenian came through at 27 seconds down.

Riders soon came rolling across the line, with Almeida coming from behind to overhaul Vlasov in the closing section of the time trial. The pair became the first men to finish within a minute of Ganna’s time at 52 and 50 seconds down. Ayuso at 1:11, Mas at 1:46, Vingegaard at 1:18, and Landa at 2:21 all shed time to the pair, as well as Roglič and Evenepoel, who now look to be emerging as the big two favourites for glory in Madrid.

Crossing the line, Evenepoel proved the best of the GC favourites as expected, putting 20 seconds into Roglič, 34 into Almeida, 55 seconds into Ayuso, and 1:02 into Vingegaard.

An impressive ride from Kuss brought him to 13th place, securing his red jersey for another day despite shedding 17 seconds to Marc Soler, while former race leader Martinez dropped behind Evenepoel and Roglič in the standings after racing home at 2:29 down on Ganna.

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