In Italy today was again driven against the clock and as expected that was a prey for home driver and world champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). Pink jersey Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step) strengthened his lead after a class time trial. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) was the best Belgian in 4th place.
Stage 14 in a nutshell:
- Winner of the day (1): There is no measure on Filippo Ganna this fall. The tall Italian wins a third stage in the round of his country after the world time trial championship. What a powerhouse!
- Winner of the day (2): Where is Joao Almeida’s ship stranded? Even today, the facade of the Portuguese showed no cracks, quite the contrary. Does he even know how strong he is?
- Loser of the day: Despite the generous applause, Vincenzo Nibali fell a bit in the end. It would be foolish to write off the old fox now, but this time trial certainly did him no good.
- Remarkable: This Giro d’Italia does not provide much variation in the winners. After fourteen rides, the counter is barely eight different riders, six different teams and six different countries.
View the short summary here:
Ganna wins Ineos get-together from Dennis
The time trial was divided into two clearly distinguishable parts. The most gifted time trialists were discussed first and the men for the classification were allowed to close. The course was not to be underestimated, with the steep Muro di Ca ‘del Poggio as the opener and then rolling roads with constant curves.
Two-time world champion Dennis wanted to shake off the frustrations of the first time trial and set the standard at the intermediate points, but he was soon outstripped by his Ineos teammate Ganna. The current world champion steadily expanded his lead at every measuring point and drove unthreatened to the stage victory.
Our fellow countrymen did well. Campenaerts ended up just outside the top ten and De Gendt missed the podium by barely one second. That was of course a respectable distance from Ineos’ unapproachable tandem.
Amazing Almeida holds Kelderman off
The favorites also adhered to the expected scenario, although there was a surprising outlier from McNulty. With the third time of the day he zoomed from place 11 to 4. Bilbao and Nibali were somewhat disappointing and lost valuable time.
At the very top, pink sweater Almeida seemed to be going too fast. The inexperienced Portuguese clocked a very sharp time on the wall and paid the price for it in the midriff. Kelderman kept a little more reserves and came a little closer in that middle section.
The hopes of the Dutch got on the line after all. Although Kelderman was able to put the attackers at a greater distance in his back, he had to simultaneously acknowledge his superior in Almeida. The leader bit through and hit some impressive final kilometers out of his legs. He will defend tomorrow, in the mountains, a bonus of almost a minute.
De Gendt: “Glad I had good legs”
Thomas De Gendt just fell off the podium. “I have been good in a time trial in a grand tour before. You have to go deep for that. I am glad that I had very good legs, because that was necessary on this tough course. Yesterday I already felt that there was ‘force’. was in the legs and that came out today. “
“I have deliberately asked not to pass on intermediate times”, he told Renaat Schotte. “Kevin De Weert does that perfectly. We just focused on what was possible: riding as fast as possible. I had to take time on the power pieces slightly uphill. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where you end up, as long as you gave everything.”
And what remains to be said about the winner. “Ganna is unapproachable. That is just the world top for the next ten years. I am not one of them. It is nice to measure myself with the world champion time trial. I used to be able to beat that, but with this Ganna it will be very difficult. “laughed De Gendt.
Ganna: Perfect time trial? Victory was most important
“Whether this was the perfect time trial? The victory is the most important!”, The Italian said after his 3rd stage victory. Ganna is also a track topper, will he go to the European Championship on the slopes in November? “I don’t know yet, I’m going to finish the Giro first and then take some time for my girlfriend and my family.”
He’s not thinking about the slopes at the moment. “We will also see for the world hour record. First the Giro.”
Almeida: “It went perfectly”
Young Almeida, 6th, took time on all his classification competitors. “It was perfect. Only on Brandon (McNulty, red) I didn’t win a time. He was really strong. I’m super happy. I give my time trial a 10. I don’t think I could do better. It was the longest time trial I already drove, but I love this discipine. “
It is the 1st big round for Almeida, but he has been shining in pink for a while now. If he survives tomorrow’s stage – a mountain stage with 3 2nd category cols and an uphill 1st category finish, Milan might be in it? “Maybe, you never know,” he continues to look at it from day to day. “I will only consider myself a possible Giro winner after stage 20, at the start of the final time trial. Until then, anything is possible.”
