Tadej Pogacar takes incredible time-trial victory at Giro d'Italia to further strengthen grip on Maglia Rosa

The first of two individual time-trials at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, Tadej Pogacar has strengthened his grip on the Maglia Rosa with an incredible stage win.

Although Julius van den Berg was the first man down the start ramp, the Team DSM-Firmenich Post NL rider was not the first at the finish line. That honour went to BORA - hansgrohe's Irish national time-trial champion, Ryan Mullen. He didn't get to go and sit into the hotseat however, as just moments later, Josef Cerny improved on the Irishman's time to set a benchmark of 54:50.

Daan Hoole was the next man to set the best time, going 34 seconds quicker than Cerny with his effort of 54:16. In turn, the Lidl-Trek man's time was then beaten by Movistar Team's Lorenzo Milesi who went even better, clocking 53:56.

One of the pre-stage favourites, Filippo Ganna didn't get off to the best of starts as an overeager fan leaned a little too far over the barriers and struck the Italian national time-trial champion, knocking Ganna off balance. Thankfully, the INEOS Grenadiers powerhouse was able to stay upright, but a shake of the head showed his discontent.

UAE Team Emirates' Mikkel Bjerg had announced his intentions for a good ride pre-stage and the Dane lived up to expectations by beating Milesi's time and moving into the hotseat. Sadly or Bjerg, despite Ganna's tricky start the Italian laid down a true marker for the likes of Geraint Thomas and Tadej Pogacar still to come with his time of 52:01, blitzing all previous times by a considerable margin.

Max Schachmann came relatively close to Ganna, crossing the line 48 seconds down. Ganna's INEOS Grenadiers teammate, Magnus Sheffield then went even closer at 32 seconds down. The next man to go close was also an INEOS Grenadiers as Thymen Arensman clocked 43 seconds down.

As the top-10 got their efforts underway, the non-time-trial specialists such as Juan Pedro Lopez and Lorenzo Fortunato were haemorrhaging time and slipping further away from their dream of a podium finish in Rome.

Although both were way down on Filippo Ganna, Tadej Pogacar had an 8-second advantage over Geraint Thomas at the first time-check. At the second time check, that gap had extended somewhat in the Slovenian's favour however, the difference now 40 seconds.

Cian Uijtdebroeks crossed the line 2:38 down on Ganna, a solid effort although the battle for the White Jersey is now really heating up between himself and Luke Plapp. 3rd at the start of the day, Daniel Martinez did even better, crossing the line just 1:32 down on Ganna. As Thomas crossed the line, 1:43 down, Martinez moved up to second. Pogacar though, was still thinking about the stage win and in stunning style the Slovenian edged out Ganna by 17 seconds at the line.