Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) takes the first pink jersey of the 106th Giro d’Italia after his success in the opening time trial on Saturday.
The world champion won after 19.6km ahead of Italy’s Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) and Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).
This inaugural time trial was contested along the Trabocchi hill on the Adriatic coast. The first 14 kilometres were on a cycle path, before a short climb and finish on a cobbled road.
Evenepoel, who wore the Belgian time trial champion’s jersey, was the fastest over the first intermediate checkpoint, with a 12 second advantage over Ganna.
The Soudal Quick-Step rider continued his momentum into the second intermediate, 15 seconds ahead of Ganna and 33 ahead of Almeida, who moved into third place.
Evenepoel finished in 21:18 with an average speed of 55 km/h. He won by 22 seconds over Ganna and 29 over Almeida.
Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS Grenadiers) took fourth place at 40 seconds after Evenepoel, ahead of Switzerland’s Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ). Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), in sixth, conceded 43 seconds.
Evenepoel, 23, takes the 42nd win of his career, the fifth of the season. He became the first Belgian to pull on the pink jersey since Rik Verbrugghe in 2001.
On Sunday, the Giro will remain in the region with a second stage between Teramo and San Salvo (202km) offering two second category climbs along the way.
