Revenge is here! Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) fulfilled the predictions and won the second time trial of the Giro d’Italia 2024, an individual time trial of 31.2 kilometers between Castiglione delle Stiviere and Desenzano del Garda.
The Italian champion was unbeatable in the fight against the clock, winning with a time of 35:02, at an average of 53.43 km/hour ahead of Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Dutchman Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers), who completed the podium of the time trial.
In the end, the fight for the time trial victory was concentrated between Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who was comfortably beaten by the Italian champion, finishing 29 seconds behind the time trial specialist.
Saturday’s course seemed designed for Filippo Ganna to finally get his longed-for victory if Tadej Pogacar didn’t put in another stratospheric performance. However, the precedents of the first time trial, in which the giant from Verbania was able to gain 40 seconds on the Slovenian in the opening stretch of the first time trial, made the stakes for his stage victory rise several notches.
But, as it usually happens in three-week races, especially when the time trials are placed past the middle of the race, each one has already defined his level and the trend of his form so there are usually not too many surprises other than some monumental disaster. And so it happened, the script was fulfilled almost to the millimeter.
The best Colombian in the time trial was Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgroge) in 14th place, 1:45 behind the winner, which dropped him to third place in the overall individual classification. Then followed Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) in 47th place at 4:06, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) 75th at 5:05, Esteban Chaves (EF Education – EasyPost) 80th at 5:09, Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team) 10th at 5:39 and Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) 130th at 6:22.
This Sunday will be the queen stage of the 107th edition of the Corsa Rosa, a super mountainous stage of 222 kilometers with five mountainous obstacles, three of first category in the final part.
Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Results Stage 14 (CRI) | Castiglione delle Stiviere – Desenzano del Garda (31,2 km)
| 1 | Filippo Ganna | INEOS Grenadiers | 35:02 |
| 2 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 0:29 |
| 3 | Thymen Arensman | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:07 |
| 4 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:14 |
| 5 | Luke Plapp | Team Jayco AlUla | 1:18 |
| 6 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 1:19 |
| 7 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 1:25 |
| 8 | Tobias Foss | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:26 |
| 9 | Mikkel Bjerg | UAE Team Emirates | 1:28 |
| 10 | Edoardo Affini | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 1:30 |
Ranking General
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 50:00:09 |
| 2 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 3:41 |
| 3 | Daniel Felipe Martínez | BORA – hansgrohe | 3:56 |
| 4 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 4:35 |
| 5 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 5:17 |
| 6 | Thymen Arensman | INEOS Grenadiers | 6:30 |
| 7 | Filippo Zana | Team Jayco AlUla | 7:26 |
| 8 | Romain Bardet | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 7:52 |
| 9 | Lorenzo Fortunato | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 8:40 |
| 10 | Alex Baudin | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 8:56 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico y www.brujulabike.com