Filippo Ganna sailed to an easy victory in stage 10's individual time trial at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday. The pre-race favourite, Jonas Vingegaard, failed in his bid to take the overall lead as Afonso Eulálio battled hard to keep the pink jersey.
No one could come close to Ganna, a time trial specialist who completed the flat, 42km (26-mile) route along the Tuscan coast from Viareggio to Massa in 45 minutes and 53 seconds. Ganna had little to worry about while waiting for confirmation of his eighth Giro stage win, seven of which have come in time trials.
Ganna's Netcompany-Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman finished second, 1 minute and 54 seconds behind. The Dutchman had five seconds to spare over Frenchman Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United), who finished third. Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was three minutes down on Ganna in 13th place.
"We have done an amazing job last winter to prepare for time trials," Ganna said afterwards. "And it can be seen also with the GC riders of the team, look at Thymen in second place."
Portugal's Eulálio took the pink jersey after stage five and began the day 2 minutes and 24 seconds ahead of Vingegaard. The Bahrain-Victorious rider dug deep to limit the damage and still holds a 27-second overall lead.
In the only time trial of this year's race, Vingegaard was expected to seize control. While he is now within touching distance of Eulálio, the Portuguese rider defied the odds and his own pre-stage predictions. "I'm not expecting a good time trial," Eulálio had said. "It's the worst possible type of stage for a lightweight climber like me. It's going to be suffering." Suffer he did, but with the finish in sight, Eulálio found an extra gear to power to the line. "The pink jersey is giving me strength," he said after Tuesday's stage.
Arensman was the big mover in the general classification, up from sixth spot to third overall, and is one-and-a-half minutes behind Vingegaard, while Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) slipped from 35 seconds off the Dane to almost two minutes adrift. Gall had been Vingegaard's main rival on the recent summit finishes, where the favourite won two stages, and the Austrian will now need to push hard once more to recoup his losses.
Wednesday's stage 11 is a 195km ride from Porcari to Chiavari, lacking any categorised climbs but with a number of hills to negotiate close to the finish line.
