Filippo Ganna put in a dominant performance to storm to gold in the men’s time trial at the World Championships.
Ganna won the 31.7km TT for Italy by 26 seconds in windy conditions from Wout van Aert (Belgium) and 29 seconds from third-placed Stefan Küng (Switzerland) in a superb display on home soil.
There were also strong rides from Geraint Thomas who finished fourth (+37″) and Rohan Dennis (+39″) as the INEOS Grenadiers had three riders in the top five.
Thomas was the early pacesetter and sat in the hotseat with his time of 36:31.12 which was nearly a minute faster than the previous best.
However, Ganna looked the most likely to dethrone the Welsh rider as he powered though the intermediate time check fastest on course, with Dennis second.
Thomas looked to have secured a podium place, but Küng and then Van Aert narrowly bested his time to see him finish fourth, before Ganna stormed to the line and secured the world TT title.
“It’s a dream for me, I’m really happy,” said Ganna at the medal ceremony. “At the finish I had really good support in the car and I’d like to thank the whole team of Italy and INEOS Grenadiers.
“It’s a dream. I won four rainbow jerseys on the track and this is my first in the time trial.”
2020 UCI Mens’ TT Championships Results:
- Filippo Ganna (Italy) 35:54:10
- Wout van Aert (Belgium) 27″
- Stefan Küng (Switzerland) +30″
- Geraint Thomas (Great Britain) +37″
- Rohan Dennis (Australia) +40″
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