Ganna wins in La Vuelta time trial that clarifies the classification a bit

Finally, after all the defeats accumulated this season, Filippo Ganna has finally asserted his strength against the clock in a stage that seemed tailor-made for him and where, as expected, there have been differences between the favorites, although not excessive, so everything remains to be decided for the mountains.

Sepp Kuss retains the lead in La Vuelta and puts Jumbo-Visma in trouble

The hoped-for differences that were expected to clarify the general classification of the race have not occurred, at least not to the extent necessary to condition the race. The favorites are still in a fist and Jumbo-Visma is in a dilemma after the great result of a magnificent Sepp Kuss.

The first part of the time trial had the Swiss Steffan Bissengger as the protagonist by taking the first really reference time after the 25.8 km through the streets of Valladolid, with winding areas as befits a city but, mostly along wide avenues that protected from the wind but, in turn, allowed the specialists to show their full potential.Only the climb to Parquesol, in the first third of the course, the "port" of the cyclists from Puebla, put the discordant note in the Castilian plain.

Bissengger's joy ended with the participation of Filippo Ganna, who did not seem to miss better references and swept from start to finish, setting a stratospheric 27'39'', at more than 55 km / h average that no one would be able to improve as it was seen from the first references that were coming from the favorites. In fact, at the first timing point, the best of the general classification was Primoz Roglic, who improved by one second to a splendid, but not super, Remco Evenepoel, but they were already 10 and 11 seconds respectively behind the Verbania rider.

Vingegaard also well, although far from being that of the Tour de France and Enric Mas in his line in this type of events that are a good ballast for him but containing reasonably well the losses. On the other hand, we had the battle for the lead between Marc Soler and Sepp Kuss and in which, although the Catalan started tremendously well, Sepp Kuus resisted the fight and it looked like he was not going to give up the red jersey.

These differences increased in the second part, after a headwind zone that brought out the strength of the cyclists and in the last third, back towards the center of the city, they settled in the final times.

Excellent result for Joao Almeida, who lost 52 seconds to Filippo Ganna, while Juan Ayuso's final part of the race was a bit of a ball and his disadvantage with the Italian went down to 1'11'', which, however, was 7 seconds better than the time set by Jonas Vingegaard. In turn, the Dane had managed to improve Enric Mas by 28 seconds.

However, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel soon arrived, the big winners of the stage. After a very evenly matched stage between the two, the Belgian finally won the battle, although he was far from the stage victory when he crossed the finish line 16 seconds behind the Italian. Despite the unfriendly face he showed at the finish, it was a time 20 seconds better than Primoz Roglic's and more than a minute better than the rest of the favorites. It was a good haul for the Soudal-QuickStep rider but not enough to be able to play defense in the mountains.

The problem Remco faces from now on is that Jumbo-Visma has been very strong but they will have to elucidate, it is not known whether in the bus or on the road, who will hold the leader's stripes. Logic dictates that Roglic should be the one to go for, but Vingegaard is still in the mix and, let's not forget, the race leader is still Sepp Kuss, who, after almost matching Jonas' performance, is more than a minute ahead of everyone but Marc Soler in the overall standings.

A troubled river in which Juan Ayuso could fish, with the good positioning of Marc Soler, has a destabilizing element that could be used to his advantage in the mountains. As usually happens after the time trials, who has made life more complicated is Enric Mas, who gives up a substantial time which, given his characteristics, makes it very difficult for him to subtract time, although we have already seen how his resistance to the limit has been taking him to the podium in previous years, but will he be satisfied with that?

In any case, there remains a tremendously open week with several key stages in which to turn the race upside down, especially the two Pyrenean stages, although we will have to wait a few days for that.

Stage 10 Classification

1. Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers)
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +16’’
3. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +36’’
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +50’’
5. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +52’’
6. Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep) +1’09’’
7. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1’11’’
8. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +1’12’’
9. Nelson Oliveir (Movistar Team) m.t.
10. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +1’18’’

Overall Classification

1. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +35h52’38’’
2. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +26’’
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +1’09’’
4. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1’36’’
5. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +2’02’’
6. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2’16’’
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +2’22’’
8. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2’25’’
9. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +2’50’’
10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +3’14’’