Giro d’Italia – Brutal Evenepoel! Dominated time trial and first pink jersey, Ganna 2nd: Roglic at 43”

In the top 10

The record

Giro d’Italia number 106 begins with a non-trivial stopwatchparading on the Trabocchi coast between Fossacesia Marina e Ortona, in Abruzzo. The race officially takes off at 13:50 with the departure of Lauren Huys (Intermarché – Circus – Wanty). On paper, the first riders to watch on the startlist are Josef Cerny (Soudal – Quick Step) e Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma), but neither of them manage to leave their mark. The first notable half was scored by the South African Stefan De Bod (EF Education – EasyPost), which remains at the head of the race for several minutes. Worth noting is the good test of jonathan milanleading the first two splits before giving something up on the final climb and closing in provisional fourth place.

De Bod’s performance is improved by an excellent one Mads Pedersen, which lowers the new best time to 22’20”. They also come Santiago Buitrago e Hugh Carthy, but with decidedly high times. Instead it travels like a motorcycle Brandon McNulty, 14 seconds faster than Pedersen and therefore the new leader with a valid 22’06”. The race climbs quickly, coming alive. Jay Vine proves to be fit and beats teammate McNulty, but his leadership does not last long because he arrives Tao Geoghegan Hart. The winner of the 2020 Giro gains 13 seconds on the UAE Australian on the final climb and becomes the first to drop under 22 minutes of racing, lowering the limit to 21’58”.

The race is decidedly pleasant, a crescendo of emotions and quality. And the new leader is not long in coming. It’s about João Almeida, who doesn’t lose momentum until the last meter and beats Tao by ten seconds. The arrival of the Portuguese contrasted with the breathless one of Damian Carusostarted a minute earlier and reached right on the finish line by the opponent. Geraint Thomason the other hand, starts very strong, but concedes something in the last stretch and gets out of contention for success.

It’s time for the big calibres. In quick succession they leave Remco Evenepoel, Primož Roglič, Stefan Küng, Filippo Ganna and Aleksander Vlasov. And within minutes it becomes clear that the Belgian is simply in another category today. Remco crumbles the stopwatch in the two intermediates and never loses intensity, devouring the asphalt especially in the flat sector. Roglič is already heavily delayed at the detection of 9.6 km. Ganna is the only one to contain the damageespecially in the second part of the time trial, but can only win the race of humans.

Evenepoel finishes in 21’18” and when he arrives it is already clear that he will be the first pink jersey. Roglič and Küng defend themselves in the final, also thanks to a “normal” climb by Remco, but they are clearly down from the podium. Ganna is a lion and even beats Almeida. Vlasov grabs the top 10. The last of the startlist – among which there is also Alberto Bettiol – do not scare the first in the rankings, Evenepoel can celebrate. The Giro d’Italia has just begun, but he has already sent a loud and clear signal to the competition. For him it is the fifth victory of the season, the 42nd in his career, the first in the pink race.

The delay of the other big names from Evenepoel

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