Juan Ayuso pips Filippo Ganna and Ethan Vernon to take Tirreno-Adriatico time-trial win on opening stage

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Updated 04/03/2024 at 16:41 GMT

The opening time-trial stage of Tirreno-Adriatico was won by Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) ahead of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech). Ayuso set a time of 11:24 and it couldn't be bettered on the 10km course. Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) was 22 seconds back from Ayuso after debuting a striking new helmet design.

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) took an impressive time-trial victory ahead of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) on the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Ayuso’s early time of 11 minutes and 24 seconds couldn’t be bettered on the 10km course, even by TT specialist Ganna, who was a second behind.

Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) took third place with a strong run.

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Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) was 22 seconds behind Ayuso after debuting a striking new helmet design.

The second stage on Tuesday is a largely flat 198km route that could be contested by the sprinters.

Vingegaard was out early on the time trial wearing a newly-designed helmet but his time of 11:46 was soon passed by Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility).

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Ayuso then set the best time amid intermittent rain.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) didn’t threaten the lead and nor did Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) after crashing on a corner.

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Ayuso continued to remain in front as Ganna, winner of time trials at Tirreno-Adriatico for the last two years, came off the ramp.

Ganna was just two seconds behind Ayuso at the time split while Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) was only eight seconds behind.

But neither could take the lead, with Ganna a second behind Ayuso and Hindley fading to finish 24 seconds back at the line.

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