We take the same two and start over. Like last year in Imola, Italy, Filippo Ganna and Wout van Aert finished in the first two places in the World Cycling Time Trial, this Sunday in Bruges. The Italian was ahead of the Belgian “local” by five seconds, at the end of the 43.3 km course. Another Belgian, Remco Evenepoel, took third place, 43 seconds behind.
Long time holder of the best time, Evenepoel (2nd in 2019) saw his time improved by the last two starters, van Aert then Ganna. The 25-year-old Italian scored his 16th road success, his 14th in a time trial.
🥇🗣️ Filippo Ganna: “Keeping this jersey for me is really exceptional”
🇮🇹 Just got off his bike, the Italian Filippo Ganna relishes the winning of his second consecutive world title in the time trial # Flanders2021 pic.twitter.com/SPXfMh6yly
– francetvsport (@francetvsport) September 19, 2021
At the Tokyo Olympics, the tall Piedmontese (1.93 m) had only taken 5th place in an event won by the Slovenian Primoz Roglic. On the other hand, he had excelled on the track, leading the pursuit team to the gold medal and the 4 kilometer world record.
The decision was made in the end
On the ultra-flat course from Knokke-Heist to Bruges, Ganna turned the situation around in the last kilometers. 6 seconds ahead of van Aert at the first intermediate score (km 13.8), he fell to less than a second at the second score (km 33.3) before taking the advantage in the final.
The European champion, the Swiss Stefan Küng, took 5th place, 1 ’06 ”behind the Dane Kasper Asgreen. For his part, the winner of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, placed 10th, at 1 ’52 ”. On the French side, Rémi Cavagna is content with 14th place, at 1 ’59 ”.