Ganna retains time trial title in Flanders

Filippo Ganna broke Belgian hearts at the road cycling world championships in Flanders as he retained his individual time trial title by beating local favourite Wout van Aert yesterday.

The Italian lagged behind Van Aert at both intermediate checks but he managed his effort better on the pancake-flat 43km course to clock 47 minutes 47 seconds.

Van Aert finished 5.37 seconds behind with another Belgian, Remco Evenepoel, picking up the bronze medal 43.34 seconds off the pace. “In a week, my condition improved very well after a short camp in altitude,” Ganna said.

“Today when I woke up I had a good feeling in the legs and the head did the rest.”

Evenepoel clocked the first time of reference but Van Aert was already 28 seconds up at the first intermediate check.