Avenging his narrow defeat to Tadej Pogacar in the first time-trial of the 2024 Giro d'Italia, Filippo Ganna left nothing to chance on stage 14, destroying the field with an epic display of solo riding against the clock from the Italian National Champion.
Clocking 35:02 at the line, Ganna was comfortably in the hotseat for almost the entire stage, with no rider even able to get within a minute of his time. When the Maglia Rosa took to the course however, there was notable tension in the air, especially after Pogacar reached the first time check quicker than the INEOS Grenadiers powerhouse. In the end though, lightning didn't strike twice and Pogacar couldn't quite upset Ganna on the Italian's terrain, with victory going to the 27-year-old by 29 seconds at the line.
"Today I suffered a lot. I was just speaking with Jonathan Milan too and for him it's such 70 seconds in the sprint and you know immediately if you win or not... I had to wait two hours!" Ganna reflects in his post-stage interview. "I'm a little bit overcome with emotion. To win in Italy, after a lot of time without a win is a really intense moment. Especially here, where it's like a second home to me and yeah, I'm very happy!"
In the career of Ganna, it's now a sixth Giro d'Italia stage win. With his team leader Geraint Thomas moving back up to 2nd overall though, there's no rest for Ganna as he's sure to be put to work on tomorrow's mammoth day of mountains in service of his INEOS Grenadiers comrade. "Tomorrow will be a really intensive day. And then in the last week we'll be fighting really, really hard," he concludes.
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