Giro d'Italia: Ganna beats Pogacar in time trial. The pink race goes to the Alps but bad weather is feared
3' min read
3' min read
At last! He too is beatable. For once, in the presence of a fantastic Filippo Ganna in tricolour jersey, even the Martian has to raise the white flag.
In a time trial, such as this one at Lake Garda (31.2 km flat), the Italian champion showed his skills as a specialist by winning the stage with an impressive average of 53.434 km per hour. An extraordinary performance, that of Ganna, which allowed him to return to victory after a fast of 256 days. This is his first success of 2024. A fast that has tested him emotionally, as could be seen on his arrival.
With a lump in his throat, Filippo can barely say. "A victory that is worth a lot. It is never easy to win in these trials, especially in front of a champion like Pogacar who even when he loses manages to put on a great show. I worked hard all week to finally manage to beat him. It was an incentive for me, together with the public, to overcome my limits as well..."
A happy Ganna, also in projection of the forthcoming Olympic races, did not however take the scene away from Tadej Pogacar. In fact, the pink jersey still finished second (+29 seconds), giving another strong push to his ranking rivals, who all more or less fell.
The best of the other big names, Welshman Geraint Thomas, fourth at one minute and 14 seconds from Ganna, although he leapfrogged Colombian Martinez into second place, was more than three and a half minutes behind the maglia rosa. Worse Martinez, for him a day to be erased. He practically loses to everyone: both to Pogacar, who inflicts a 1 minute 15 second gap on him, and to Thomas, who is at least half a minute ahead of him in the time trial. "In the final I managed myself," Pogacar pointed out to emphasise that he did not go at full speed.
