One victory leads to another.
Filippo 'Pippo' Ganna, a few days ago wore the world champion's jersey of the time trial on the road, today he got his hands on the first pink jersey of his career, at his first participation in a Giro d'Italia.
The 'boy of the lake' (Piedmont side of the 'Maggiore') has doubly proved to be a champion on the roads that connect Monreale and Palermo: first of all, because he won as a favorite and then for having won a time trial that is anything but trivial, very fast, with many traps and the snare of the sirocco wind, whose impetuous gusts broke the test in two, selecting favorites and not.
Those who started among the first, including the Welsh Geraint Thomas - one of the contenders for the pink jersey in Milan - was right and recorded unsustainable speeds for those who, on the other hand, could not count on Eolo's push, starting from the platform between the last.
And here, therefore, that, in the general classification, rather significant grooves have been traced.
There are not a few who, from tomorrow - the first stage in line between Alcamo and Agrigento, on a 149 kilometer long route, through the Belice Valley - will be forced to chase.
They will not have to hunt for Ganna, but for team mate Ineos, Thomas, today 4 / o.
The Welshman inflicted 26 "late on British Simon Yates, 57" on Russian Vlasov, 1'06 "on Vincenzo Nibali, 1'24" on Jakob Fuglsang and 1'21 "on Dutch Steven Kruijswijk. to win the Giro. Further Rafal Majka, the last of the 176 riders to start today, who has accumulated a 1m37 "delay from the 2018 Tour de France winner. Ganna, who finished in 15'24" and at an average of 58.8 km / h, ahead of the Portuguese Joao Almeida and the Danish Mikkel Bjerg by 22 "in order, he took all the jerseys, except one: the blue one, worn by the best climber, which ended up on his shoulders of the German and son of art, Rick Zabel.
The world champion of the challenges against time has literally flown, recording a mind-boggling split time: 8'51 "after 9.3 kilometers and also overtaking Koenbouwman, who started 1 'before him. In the downhill stretch of Corso Calatafimi, Ganna he recorded record-speed, even reaching 108 km / h. Simply monstrous. The Piedmontese confirmed an amazing state of form, which brought him to the top step of the world podium, in Imola. Since 2011 an Italian has not worn the pink jersey after the first stage: the last one was the engineer Marco Pinotti who, on 7 May 2011, won the test at Venaria Reale in Turin. But it was a team time trial. In the Giro d'Italia of leaves death, organized at the time of the Coronavirus, after the first stage the first final verdict was issued: Miguel Angel Lopez, one of the favorites for the podium in Milan, had to abandon the race after a tragicomic fall. The Colombian, unfortunately for him
i is not the first time this has happened, he lost control of the bike halfway through and crashed into the hurdles of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, shortly after the Quattro cantoni.
A real shame, for him and for Astana, but also for the Tour of Dead Leaves, which loses one of the protagonists of the mountain stages