Italian rocket: Ganna claims victory in time trial Tirreno-Adriatico, Ayuso starts strong

Filippo Ganna won the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico. The Italian was the top favorite and lived up to his status. The young Dane Johan Price-Pejtersen had high hopes for a stunt, but the favorites did not allow it. Ganna managed to beat Juan Ayuso in a game of seconds.

Last Saturday, The Strade Bianche started the Italian cycling season. Traditionally, the Tirreno-Adriatico starts on the Monday after the Strade Bianche, and this year, once again, offers a challenging course for many riders. Without defending champion Jonas Vingegaard – currently riding Paris-Nice – there are plenty of opportunities for other GC riders, who got straight to work today with a short 11.5-kilometer time trial in Lido di Camaiore.

Representing Picnic PostNL, Chris Hamilton kicked off the Race of the Two Seas. The Australian finished in 13:42 but failed to impress. Meanwhile, Price-Pejtersen, former world champion in the U23 time trial, set a powerful time of 12:45, which many riders could not match.

GC riders have a hard time with young Dane

Even riders with ambitions for the GC could not come close to the young Dane. Giulio Ciccone, Kevin Vauquelin, and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Søren Wærenskjold, among others, could not match the time of the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider. And what about Italian hope Jonathan Milan? He was also not good enough. The top sprinter was ultimately three seconds slower at the finish line.

Simon Yates was next up, one of the top favorites for the final ranking. The Brit made his debut for Visma | Lease a Bike and set a time of 13:12. He rode a decent time trial but still fell well short of his competitor Antonio Tiberi, who was one second short of the fastest time. Simons' brother, Adam Yates, also fell short of the quickest time, 13:05.

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Ganna confirms status as favorite with incredibly fast time

With each passing moment, the young Dane had more and more reason to hope for a surprise. Most riders hoping for a win did not come close to Price-Pejtersen's time. Until Ayuso departed. The Spaniard started at lightning speed and set the best intermediate time at the first checkpoint. Ayuso continued this and managed to take the fastest time at 12:40.

But then top favorite Filippo Ganna still had to race. The Italian, who had already indicated that he had set his sights on this time trial, was two seconds behind Ayuso at the intermediate point. But Ganna then pushed extremely hard and ultimately won the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico with more than twenty seconds to spare.

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Results Stage 1 Tirreno-Adriatico 2025

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