Ineos man Ganna grabs his third stage win of this Giro
Filippo Ganna powered to his third stage win of this Giro d’italia yesterday as Joao Almeida used the stage-14 time trial in Prosecco country to stretch his lead in the pink jersey.
The 34km time trial from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene became an intra-ineos battle with nobody able to get close to Ganna or his teammate Rohan Dennis, the Australian second by 26 seconds but a further 43 seconds clear of Brandon Mcnulty in third.
Mcnulty’s ride vaulted the 22-yearold American up the general classification standings, but most eyes were on the significant gaps between Almeida, sixth on the day, and his main rivals as Vincenzo Nibali and Domenico Pozzovivo lost time.
DeceuninckQuickstep’s Almeida now leads by 56 seconds from Wilco Kelderman of Team Sunweb, with the gap to Pello Bilbao in third stretching to two minutes and 11 seconds.
Mcnulty moved up to fourth with Nibali in
fifth and Pozzovivo in seventh, with the same two minutes and 33 second deficit as sixthplaced Rafal Majka.
It was another dominant performance from Ganna in the rainbow bands as the time-trial world champion.
The 24-year-old, who like Almeida is making his Grand Tour debut in this race, enjoyed two days in the pink jersey after winning the opening time trial, and then set about salvaging the race for Ineos following Geraint Thomas’ untimely exit with victory on stage five.
“This is my third victory in the Giro, I am very proud of it,” Ganna said.
“This year I have improved a lot thanks to the help of my team. Every little improvement is important and contributes to performances such as this one.”