Evenepoel wins the time trial by a second! – Corriere.it

(Marco Bonarrigo) More than a 35-kilometre cycling time trial, the one in Cesena at the Giro was an 800-metre athletics track, at least judging by the gaps, because the test that was to give the first jolt to the general classification of the Giro is almost to be analysed. to the photo finish. Won (but not swept) Remco Evenepoel who finished the 35 kilometers (wet, full of treacherous curves and some cobbled sections where the bike danced) in 41’24” at an average of 50.725. Started at breakneck speed (after 1′ of racing he gained 11″ on the second) Remco had to make a very long sprint to distance himself by just 1″ (actually less, but the times rounded up to the second higher) Geraint Thomas and another small second to fellow Ineos runner Tao Geoghegan Hart, the real surprise of the day considering that the former Giro winner is not a pure specialist. Behind them, among the ranking men, Roglic lost 23”, Caruso 31” like Vlasov and Almeida 35 while the pink jersey Leknessund gave ground but defended itself more than excellently.

Evenepoel takes back the pink jersey, but does not dispel all the doubts about his physical condition which appears good but not extraordinary in view of the mountains which for him remain unknown. «I’m very happy – declared the Soudal captain – but today was really tough. I suffered a lot between the first and second intermediate stages, in the more technical part. Then I lay down and if the test had been five kilometers longer it would have gone even better».

The classification now sees the Belgian world champion leading with 45″ on Thomas, 47″ on Roglic (the Slovenian may have suffered from fatigue on Saturday), 50” on Geoghegan Hart, 1’07” on Almeida and Leknessund, 1’48” on Vlasov and 2’07” on Caruso, first Italian in eighth place.

Andreas Leknessund says goodbye to the pink jersey after five days, finishing in 19th time, 1’15” behind the winner Evenepoel.

While Leknessund has yet to arrive, Evenepoel crosses the finish line in 41’24” and therefore beats Thomas’s time by just one second. He also gains 17” on his rival Roglic, who is now 55” behind in the standings and gives up the position in favor of the Welshman. Excellent performance by Damiano Caruso, best of the Italians and tenth at 42” from the winner.

Primoz Roglic finishes in 41’41”, 16 seconds lost by the leader Geraint Thomas.

Evenepoel’s frenzied pace seems to decrease along the way. Started at a thousand, it now seems in line with the times held by the unleashed Ineos duo.

He loses 23” from the currently leading duo. He passes in 34’28” against an almost identical time of 34’05”.

Thomas snatches the lead from Tao Geoghegan Hart: 41’25” versus 41’26”.

By 2” on Kung, great performance by the former winner of the Giro d’Italia

The Belgian continues to fly. Roglic passed through with a delay of 27”.

Leknessund goes 47” behind Evenepoel, from now on the «virtual» pink jersey.

14’45” in the first intermediate is the time of Remco Evenepoel, thus silencing the voices of crisis: 11” ahead of Thomas and 31” over Roglic in just 13 km.

At the second intermediate stage, 23.6 km after the start, Tao Geoghegan Hart set the best time in 34’05”, 13” better than Küng, but was immediately overtaken by 7” by Geraint Thomas.

14’56” for Geraint Thomas, Geoghegan Hart 3” behind and Kung had cleared 15. Roglic 20” late from the new leader.

Andreas Leknessund, leader (until today) of the race, starts last. He is not a chronoman.

The world champion, second 8” from Leknessund, takes off.

The Slovenian from Jumbo yesterday ate 14″ off Remco Evenepoel, who precedes him in general by only 30″.

For him the gap is 40”.

For him, the delay from the leader is +56″

He is 10th in the general standings, 58” behind leader Leknessund.

And in fact Armirail takes first place breaking through the 42′ wall in 41’32” but Kung immediately mocks him for 4”. Mollema relegated to 55”.

In the group of mid-ranking riders there is a battle between the two stars of Groupama, the Swiss Stefan Küng and the French Bruno Armirail, who passed to the first intermediate respectively in 15′ flat and 14 seconds later and, to the second, with parts reversed in 27 ’17” and 27’22”, over half a second faster than Mollema had been.

Meanwhile Brandon McNulty (UAE) is only one second behind Mollema in the standings.

The Belgian from Ineos is currently 15th overall, 2’32” behind Leknessund. In 2018 with the Quickstep he won the team time trial of the Innsbruck World Championship.

Mollema takes the lead in 42’23”, 14” less than Hepburn.
Mollema (Trek) 42’23”
Hepburn (Jayco) 42’37”
Affini (Jumbo) 42’41”
Alex Kirsch (Trek) 43’07”
Dennis Rohan (Jumbo) 43’32”

Mollema is coming as expected, with the best times at the two intermediates.

We are at the 48th of the general, Bob Jungels of the Bora. From 15.43 the departures will be more frequent with the best. It rains less, the asphalt seems to dry out in some places.

Part Bauke Mollema (Trek), one of the specialists against the clock. Today in the standings he is 71 ‘more than 45’ from the leaders.

Jayco’s Australian Michael Hepburn immediately ousts Affini from the top of the standings by lowering his time by 4”, down to 42’37” in an average speed of 49.276 km/h

Edoardo Affini takes the lead with a great time: 42’41”

While Edoardo Affini (Jumbo) records excellent intermediates, the classification at the finish line sees Charlie Quaterman (Corratec) in first position with 44’15” and 32 seconds ahead of Hoole, 51 over Alan Riou (Arkéa) and 1’03” over Davie Ballerini (Soudal). Last Yukiya Arashiro (Bahrain) 1” behind.

Daan Hoole crosses the finish line first, of course, establishing the first term of comparison: 44’47” at an average speed of 46.8 km/h.

The first intermediate is at 13 km, the second at 23.1. At the moment the best time is set by the Dutchman Dan Hoole in 15’53” and 28’59” respectively. Along the way, he also overtook Stojnic who started first.

In the cyclamen jersey, he is the leader of the points standings.

The ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia, the individual time trial between Savignano sul Rubicone and Cesena, has become a veritable deluge. It is inevitable to see the conditioned times, especially as in the stretches of the city the pavement is made of slippery stone.

It rains quite heavily along the track. However, the forecasts seem to be encouraging for the departure time of the big ones which, as mentioned, will start around 3.43pm.

Stojnic. Until 15.43 there will be one start every minute, while the best 15 in the standings will have a wide margin: three minutes between one and the other.

Veljko Stojnic, Stefano Gandin and Nicolas Della Valle (all from the Corratec team) will be the first three to start. They are all more than 1h51′ behind the pink jersey.

The Norwegian Andreas Leknessund, pink jersey from the Lago Laceno stage, still has an 8 second margin over the favorite Remco Evenepoel but, in all probability, he will give up the lead. Meanwhile, today he will leave last.

In the morning, the cyclists reconnoitred the route. At the moment it’s not raining but showers and clear spells are expected throughout the afternoon, this is a problem for the runners.

You say time trial and in Italy you say Ganna, on the podium in the first stage. But he will not be at the start of the Romagna race, given that yesterday he withdrew due to being positive – with symptoms – at Covid (8th withdrawal for this reason).
(Gaia Piccardi) Barring Ganna returning to the race for the Tour of France (“Highly improbable” says Dario Cioni, the Ineos coach who knows Pippo like the back of his hand), the goal becomes the Glasgow World Cup which, bringing together all the disciplines under the Scottish sky, offers him a tight schedule: priority to the gold pursuit quartet in Tokyo and to the time trial which, after the 2020 and 2021 triumphs, he was denied in Australia last year (7 °). On the individual pursuit in Glasgow there will be last minute reasoning, based on the results. «The important thing is that you feel good again» says the coach. For the smile, we will have to wait.

In Terni-Fossombrone the Irishman Ben Healy won after a very long breakaway at 12 and a solo sprint 50 km from the finish. But, above all, Primoz Roglic attacked 5 kilometers from the finish, not finding Remco Evenepoel ready and snatching 14 from him. The pink jersey remains in Leknessund for only 8”, but today it will change owner. Here the full report.

The Giro d’Italia no. 106 continues with its ninth stage, the second time trial of the edition, in Romagna. It starts from Savignano sul Rubicone and arrives in Cesena after 35 km, a completely flat route