Filippo Ganna reunites with victory in the second time trial of the Giro d'Italia 2024

Second time trial stage of this Giro d'Italia 2024 and, unlike the first one, a completely flat stage, for true specialists in individual discipline and where finally, Filippo Ganna, who had not achieved a victory since the time trial of the last edition of La Vuelta and could only watch as one or another rider snatched victories in his specialty, managed to prevail in his main objective of this Giro despite a Tadej Pogacar who, once again, was at a sublime level.

Pogacar reaffirms his leadership before the Giro d'Italia 2024 enters the high mountains

The second week of the Giro d'Italia 2024 is coming to an end with the first of the three decisive stages that the participants in the Corsa Rosa will have to face before reaching the well-deserved second rest day. A 31.2-kilometer time trial between Castiglione delle Stiviere and Desenzano del Garda, already at the foot of the feared Alps that they will have to face in the coming days despite the completely flat route of the stage.

A profile that seemed designed for Filippo Ganna to finally achieve his sought-after victory if there was not another stellar performance by Tadej Pogacar. However, the precedents of the first time trial, in which the giant from Verbania managed to gain 40 seconds on the Slovenian in the initial section of the first time trial, increased the bets for his stage victory.

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Just over a week ago, Filippo Ganna completed his participation very early due to his position in the general classification. At that time, it was not surprising to anyone that he was beating the passage times with absolute rigor until he managed to mark the 35 minutes and 2 seconds at the finish line that placed him at the top of the stage classification.

After that, the only interest of the day was to wait for the final part to see the performance of the favorites in the general classification since none of the riders who started after him could even come close to his times.

But, as usually happens in three-week races, especially when the time trials are placed past the halfway point of the race, each rider already has their level defined and the trend of their form, so there are usually not many surprises other than a monumental collapse. And so it happened, the script was practically fulfilled to the letter.

About the first time trial, it is worth noting that Geraint Thomas approached the level that is expected of him, finishing as the best classified among the general classification contenders, although, of course, more than a minute behind Filippo Ganna. A difference that for Daniel Felipe Martínez, a more climber type of rider, created up to 1 minute 45 seconds in a time trial totally opposite to his conditions, causing him to fall to third place in the general classification in favor of the Welsh rider.

Notable time trial by Thymen Arensman, who occupied the third place in the stage 1 minute and 7 seconds behind Ganna and which serves him to climb to sixth position in the general classification, becoming a kind of plan B for INEOS Grenadiers for the upcoming stages even though the toughness of what remains of the Giro d'Italia 2024 is probably excessive for the characteristics of the Dutch rider.

Well, what did Tadej Pogacar do? Well, simply, except for the partial victory, he copied the performance we saw in the first time trial stage. He even started with ambition, managing to even snatch the first split from Filippo Ganna by just a few seconds.

However, it was nothing more than a mirage and at the second intermediate timing point, Tadej Pogacar conceded a dozen seconds to the Italian which would turn into 29 seconds at the finish line. In any case, another productive day for the rider from UAE Team Emirates, who in the prelude to the mountains solidified his lead in the general classification, adding another 45 seconds to Geraint Thomas, who is now 3:41 behind in the general classification, or more than two minutes to Daniel Felipe Martínez, who is sent almost 4 minutes behind, a cushion for minimal risks in the upcoming stages for him.

Stage 14 Classification

1. Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) 35'02''
2. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +29''
3. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'07''
4. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'14''
5. Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) +1'18''
6. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +1'19''
7. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +1'25''
8. Tobias Foss (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'26''
9. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) +1'28''
10. Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'30''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 50h00'09''
2. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) +3'41''
3. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) +3'56''
4. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +4'35''
5. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +5'17''
6. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +6'30''
7. Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) +7'26''
8. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +7'52''
9. Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana) +8'40''
10. Alex Baudin (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +8'56''