Giro d'Italia 2020 - Filippo Ganna underlines time trial genius to beat Rohan Dennis to TT win

Updated 17/10/2020 at 16:07 GMT

Filippo Ganna powered to a brilliant victory in the Stage 14 time trial at the Giro d'Italia. The Ineos Grenadiers TT specialist beat his team-mate Rohan Dennis into second, completing a hat-trick of stage wins at the Italian Grand Tour, and underlining his status as the best time trial cyclist in the world.

Filippo Ganna of Italy and Team INEOS Grenadiers World Champion Jersey / Celebration / Champagne / Mask / Covid safety measures / during the 103rd Giro d'Italia 2020, Stage 14 a 34,1km individual Time Trial from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene

Image credit: Getty Images

The World TT champion Filippo Ganna rode to his second race-against-the-clock victory at the Giro d'Italia on Saturday, with his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Rohan Dennis the next closest challenger.

The Italian finished the 34.1km ITT course in a time of 42:40, 26 seconds faster than Dennis - the only rider in the field to finish within a minute of Ganna.

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Overall Giro leader Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) also enjoyed an excellent day in the saddle, placing sixth and extending his lead in the general classification. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) made the biggest gains of the day, however, leaping from 11th to fourth place with an inspired ride that saw him claim the stage's third podium place.

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Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) managed to make his second spot overall a little bit more secure with a great ride on the TT bike, placing eighth on the stage overall, just two places below Almeida.

Further down the GC standings there is a dangerous name lurking, with Vincenzo Nibali putting in a solid TT ride ahead of a climbing week that should suit him down to the ground. His performance was enough to consolidate fifth place, while others around him dropped time.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Cycling) and Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb) were among the names to lose out today, all three of them ceding time and places in the general.

Ineos' and Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart, who will be targeting a possible podium finish with some huge days in the mountains to come in the final week of the race, climbed into 11th with a solid TT performance. He has a lot of ground to make up, but has looked combative whenever the road has headed upward in this Giro so far.

Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) crashed badly during his TT effort and while he was able to remount his bike eventually, he was eventually eliminated for being outside the time limit. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) did not start the race due to acute bronchitis.