'From today, another Giro starts for Filippo' - Ganna monsters Giro ITT and aims for more
Filippo Ganna delivered the time trial victory expected of him on stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia in Massa, the Italian world champion crossing the line in 45 minutes 53 seconds to take his eighth career Giro stage win, but the Netcompany Ineos rider was just as keen to talk up his teammate Thymen Arensman, who finished second at 1:54 on a course built for the pure power riders.
Ganna had been the standout favourite for the Viareggio-Massa effort since the route was announced in December via RCS. The course, 42km of almost flat road along the Tuscan coast with two short U-turns and one tiny rise inside the closing four kilometres, was as close to a tailor-made time trial for the Italian as the 2026 Giro had on offer.
He duly delivered, with intermediate times that put him ahead at every checkpoint and a final margin of nearly two minutes over the runner-up with an average speed of 54.9km/h.
The second place went to Ganna's Netcompany Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman, whose presence behind Ganna underlined what Netcompany Ineos have built into their Giro this season.
The Dutchman has been a regular Tirreno-Adriatico GC performer in the spring and arrived at the Giro as one of the team's protected GC cards along with Colombian Egan Bernal, who shipped a bit of time on the stage.
"Yeah, I think we did an amazing job this winter, especially also with the GC rider," Ganna said in his flash interview. "Thymen as well, he's arrived really well in second place, like in the Tirreno. It was an amazing team job and I think it's an amazing victory also for us here."
"We hope to be a little bit enjoyed tonight and then we stay focused for the last 14 days."
The Italian also took the opportunity to back the format of the long Grand Tour time trial, with the stage 10 ITT the longest in a Grand Tour for 10 years.
"For sure it's really nice, especially with a long TT like this, I really like it. Maybe I have a little bit of the limits, me too, like also a lot of riders as well, but I'm really happy to finally find a good TT also for me and without the climb."
Asked what he was targeting next, Ganna pointed to Friday's stage 13 from Alessandria to Verbania, a home stage in the place he grew up.
"From today, another Giro starts for Filippo. I want to try to be more conservative for this massive goal for me and now we try to keep another victory in the road race, so why not try Friday, but as well in another stage, obviously if it's less than 4000m."
With his effort on the stage, Ganna beat a 23-year record set by David Millar across a 42 km ITT course, averaging 54.9 km/h.
Result: Giro d’Italia stage 10
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