He was the top favorite before the start of the race and, as the days go by, he continues to fulfill point by point the path he had set for himself to achieve the prized maglia rosa. Tadej Pogacar once again made the most of his status as favorite to not only consolidate his overall lead before the first big mountain stage tomorrow, but he also had the luxury of winning the stage against the clock after a spectacular finish.
The stage started early, an unusually long time trial of 40 kilometers between Foligno and Perugia, with an also atypical profile with the first 34 kilometers completely flat and the last 6 kilometers of constant ascent towards this beautiful Italian city where the riders hit a wall of just over 1 kilometer at 11%.
The Giant of Verbania, Filippo Ganna, who had the two long time trials of this Giro d’Italia 2024 as his main goal for this edition, started as favorite. However, the profile of the day left the doubt of whether the Slovenian would be able to make up in the final 6 kilometers of climb what the INEOS-Grenadiers rider could get in the previous kilometers.
Ganna started the time trial early and, obviously, he was sweeping all the stages he was overcoming, setting a time of 52 minutes and 1 second that improved by more than a minute and a half the best time so far, in charge of Mikkel Bjerg. Although it seemed an unbeatable time, Filippo Ganna’s body language at the finish line did not say the same, declaring a few minutes later his disappointment with the time trial, so that he was not able to keep the first place at the end of the day.
In fact, the fact that men like Schachmann and Sheffield were just 48 and 38 seconds respectively behind the Italian was a good indication that his time was not, as on other occasions, stratospheric.
We had to wait a long time to see the favorites for the general classification in action and, as we could expect beforehand, none of them managed to get close to the records of Filippo Ganna in the flat section, all of them giving up around a minute already from the first part, figures that, with nuances were maintained in the second part, located just at the foot of the final climb.
We say that with nuances because while all of them were giving more time from the first to the second partial, the difference of Tadej Pogacar remained almost unchanged between them, which gave good proof that the Slovenian had perfectly controlled the pace in this initial stretch so that everything was to be decided in the face of the climb that concluded the day.
Meanwhile, other men like Ben O’Connor and Alexey Lutsenko were arriving at the finish line, giving up 1 minute 50 and 2 minutes 16 seconds respectively in what can be considered a good time trial for them.
On the climbs, the cards were revealed. The young Cian Uijtdebroeks made a good ascent and recovered some of the time lost with Ganna to finish 2’55’ behind the Italian. Right behind him came an excellent Daniel Felipe Martinez, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of today’s day without the Slovenian, who recovered more than half a minute on the climb to finish just 1’32’. In fact, he was able to overtake Geraint Thomas, who had a long time trial and lost more than 20 seconds on the ascent.
And it was time to resolve the question: could Tadej Pogacar cut the 47 seconds he had left on the flat? The answer you already know, not only could he, but he was also able to add another 17 seconds to Filippo Ganna who was dismayed, seeing another victory that he was already caressing with the tips of his fingers fly away.
With this victory, the general classification is very much defined in favor of Tadej Pogacar, who already has more than 2 minutes on his rivals, which will allow him to face the mountains in a much more conservative way. Now the ball is in their court and they will have to risk looking for moves in which they can cut time because, let’s not forget, there is still another long time trial in this Giro d’Italia 2024 which, a priori, should also benefit Tadej Pogacar.
Of all the UAE Team Emirates rider’s rivals, the one who has offered the best sensations has been a fabulous Daniel Felipe Martínez, who in his new stage at Bora-Hansgrohe seems to have grown as a cyclist compared to previous seasons. Geraint Thomas raises doubts and, despite the excellent attitude shown by him and his team in the first week, today leaves him very touched. Then we will have to see the role that men like Uijtdebroeks or Ben O’Connor, who was very brave in the first days, can play in the mountains.
Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Results Stage 7 (ITT) | Foligno – Perugia (40,6 km)
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 51:44 |
| 2 | Filippo Ganna | INEOS Grenadiers | 0:17 |
| 3 | Magnus Sheffield | INEOS Grenadiers | 0:49 |
| 4 | Thymen Arensman | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:00 |
| 5 | Maximilian Schachmann | BORA – hansgrohe | 1:05 |
| 6 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 1:21 |
| 7 | Luke Plapp | Team Jayco AlUla | 1:45 |
| 8 | Daniel Felipe Martínez | BORA – hansgrohe | 1:49 |
| 9 | Mikkel Bjerg | UAE Team Emirates | 1:56 |
| 10 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 2:00 |
Ranking General Individual
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 24:12:36 |
| 2 | Daniel Felipe Martínez | BORA – hansgrohe | 2:36 |
| 3 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 2:46 |
| 4 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 3:33 |
| 5 | Luke Plapp | Team Jayco AlUla | 3:42 |
| 6 | Alexey Lutsenko | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 3:49 |
| 7 | Cian Uijtdebroeks | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 3:50 |
| 8 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 4:11 |
| 9 | Filippo Zana | Team Jayco AlUla | 4:41 |
| 10 | Lorenzo Fortunato | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 4:44 |
Fuente: www.brujulabike.com y Revista Mundo Ciclístico