LIDO DI CAMAIORE, March 10 ā Talk about sweet revenge! Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) turned the tables on last year's winner Juan Ayuso today, powering to an impressive victory in the opening time trial of the 2025 Tirreno-Adriatico. The Italian speed specialist nabbed the first blue leader's jersey of the race after blasting through the 11.5km course.
Starting as the third-to-last rider, Ganna was on a mission. He trailed Ayuso by two seconds at the halfway checkpoint but then shifted into another gear entirely. By the finish line, he'd turned that small deficit into a whopping 23-second advantage, clocking an eye-popping 12:17 with an average speed of 56.125 km/h ā the only rider to average over 55 km/h on the day.
Ayuso, who set off as the 154th rider, had posted a time of 12:40 that looked hard to beat. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had knocked longtime leader Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) off the hot seat, but his time at the top was short-lived once Ganna hit the course.
Price-Pejtersen, who had been sitting in the hot seat for a solid two hours, ended up in third with his time of 12:45.
GC Contenders Show Their Cards
Among the overall contenders, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) looked strongest outside of Ayuso. The young Italian star clocked 12:46, just missing the podium but putting himself in a great position for the stages ahead.
Other standout performers included Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) with 12:51 and UAE's rising talent Isaac Del Toro with 12:55.
The day wasn't as kind to some of the other big names. Simon Yates (Visma-Lease A Bike) managed 13:12, while Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) both posted 13:13. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) came in at 13:20, and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) crossed the line in 13:19.
How It All Went Down
The perfectly flat course headed north for 4.5km before hitting a hairpin turn that served as the intermediate checkpoint, then headed 7km back south to the finish.
Price-Pejtersen, going out as the 19th starter, set the early benchmark with a time that would stand for hours. The former U23 world time trial champ was the first rider to break the 13-minute barrier with his 12:45.
Sprint specialist Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) gave it a good shot, actually leading Price-Pejtersen by fractions at the checkpoint before fading slightly on the return leg. He finished with 12:48, just missing the provisional podium.
The real fireworks came late in the day. After Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Adam Yates had completed their runs with 13:24 and 13:20 respectively, all eyes turned to the big guns.
Ayuso threw down the gauntlet with his 12:40, averaging 54.426 km/h and looking like he might repeat last year's victory. But Ganna had other ideas.
Hitting the checkpoint two seconds behind, the Italian powerhouse absolutely crushed the second half of the course. His final time of 12:17 wasn't just good enough to win ā it completely dominated the field, giving him his 31st career time trial victory and his first since the Italian Championships last June.
Looking Ahead
With the blue jersey on his shoulders, Ganna will lead the peloton out tomorrow as the race heads inland from Lido di Camaiore. With such a commanding lead, the question now is whether he can hold onto it, or if climbers like Ayuso will start chipping away at his advantage.
For today though, the story is all about Ganna's remarkable comeback on a course that denied him by the slimmest of margins just one year ago.
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