GIRO’20 Stage 14: Gung Ho Ganna!

Like PEZ? Why not subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive updates and reminders on what’s cool in road cycling?

Stage 14 Race Report: World time trial champion Philippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) has taken another stage win in the 2020 Giro d’Italia. With a phenomenal ride over 34 hilly time trial kilometres, the big Italian took 26 seconds out of his second placed teammate, Rohan Dennis. There were two big winners on the GC; overall leader, João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) took time out of the others, except young American, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), who moved up to fourth place and third on the stage.

The World time trial champion – Filippo Ganna

João Almeida and Wilco Kelderman may call themselves the moral winners after the individual time trial to Valdobbiadene. The Portuguese did the best of the classification riders, followed by his main challenger Kelderman and Brandon McNulty. But the stage victory went to top favourite Filippo Ganna.

Stage 14 – Conegliano-Valdobbiadene (Prosecco Superiore Wine Stage) – Tissot ITT – 34km
This challenging time trial stage is raced against the background of the Prosecco vineyards. The 34.1km route is demanding, and features one categorised climb after just 7km, with gradients topping out at 19% (Muro di Ca’ del Poggio). The stage course then winds its way across the hills, undulating continuously along moderately narrow yet perfectly surfaced roads.

Final KMs
The final 3km run downhill all the way up to 400m from the finish line. With 750m to go, the route takes a sharp bend to the left, then turns right with 500m to go (still descending), and then turns again 400m before the finish, leading into the 300m long home straight. The stage homes in on a 5.5% incline, on 6m tarmac.

GB time trial champion Alex Dowsett

On Saturday the GC was shaken up again with an individual time trial to Valdobbiadene. João Almeida was still wearing the pink jersey after two weeks in Giro. Was the Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider from Portugal strong enough to keep the leader’s jersey?

Points leader Arnaud Dèmare has nothing to prove today

First up was Jonathan Dibben (Lotto Soudal) who is looking for a new team for 2021. Dibben was unable to set a serious target time, unlike Matthias Brändle. The Austrian time trial specialist from Israel Start-Up Nation was the fastest of the early starters with 45:23.

Not the best course for the Hour Record holder – Victor Campenaerts

Brändle could not enjoy the hot seat for long, as Kamil Gradek (45:14) and Victor Campenaerts (44:46) managed to raise the bar a bit higher. Rohan Dennis was also woking hard and the two-time world champion did not disappoint. The INEOS Grenadiers rider turned out to be a lot faster than Gradek and Campenaerts at the first intermediate point. Dennis was challenged by his teammate and top favourite Filippo Ganna. The reigning TT World champion was all-out for his third stage victory. At the first intermediate time check after 7.4 kilometres, the difference between Dennis and Ganna was 1 second in favour of the Italian.

Second on the stage for Rohan Dennis

After the difficult part of the course, with the Muro di Cà del Poggio (1.1km at 12.3%), Ganna managed to go even further ahead of Dennis. The tall Italian used his enormous engine in the descending section to the finish and turned out to be 26 seconds faster on the line than his Australian teammate. Ganna and Dennis turned out to be too good for the other time trial specialists: Josef Cerny lost more than a minute in provisional 3rd place.

A surprisingly good time trial from Domenico Pozzovivo

Split times for the GC riders after 7.4 km:
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) – 11:12
João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) – 11:14
Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) – 11:28
Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) – 11:34
Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling) – 11:35
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) – 11:36
Rafal Majka (BORA-hansgrohe) – 11:39
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) – 11:40
Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) – 11:42
Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS Grenadiers) – 11:45 am
Patrick Konrad (BORA-hansgrohe) – 11:47
Jai Hindley (Sunweb) – 11:51.

Fuglsang out of the top ten overall in 12th

After Ganna finished, the focus turned to the battle between the GC riders. The favourites for the overall victory were not much different from each other after 7.4 kilometres, But Almeida was riding well. The Portuguese rider managed to set the fourth time (11:14) and was 14 seconds faster than Kelderman, who was also on a good time. Domenico Pozzovivo conceded 21 seconds to Almeida, Jakob Fuglsang (22 seconds), Rafal Majka (25 seconds), Pello Bilbao (26 seconds) and Vincenzo Nibali (28 seconds). The big loser was Jai Hindley, who was almost 40 seconds slower than Almeida. They still had to cover almost 30 kilometres.

A good ride from Kelderman

It soon became clear that Almeida and Kelderman, first and second on overall, were well on their way to handing out blow to the others. Kelderman managed to catch up a bit on Almeida at the second time check. Nibali, Pozzovivo, Majka and Fuglsang continued to lose ground. Kelderman seemed to be the big winner among the GC riders, but it was Almeida who managed to find his second wind and put in a very strong final section. On the line he turned out to be sixteen-seconds faster than Kelderman, so the difference in the standings was now 56 seconds between them. The other favourites for the overall victory will now be wondering what to do.

Not a good day for Vincenzo Nibali

Intermediate times for the GC riders after 25.1 km:
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) – 30:57
João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) – 31:29
Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) – 31:33
Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) – 32:12
Tao Geoghegan Hart (INEOS Grenadiers) – 32:18
Rafal Majka (BORA-hansgrohe) – 32:19
Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) – 32:19
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) – 32:23
Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-McLaren) – 32:31
Patrick Konrad (BORA-hansgrohe) – 32:55
Jai Hindley (Sunweb) – 32:55.

One of the best rides of the day from Brandon McNulty

Pello Bilbao is now third overall, but his gap has grown to more than two minutes. McNulty (+ 2:23) makes a huge jump and is now fourth, Vincenzo Nibali has to make up exactly two and a half minutes at Almeida in fifth. Majka (+ 2:33), Pozzovivo (+ 2:33), Masnada (+ 3:11), Konrad (+ 3:17) and Hindley (+ 3:33) are still in the top-10.

The Italian flag was unfurled for Ganna

Stage winner, Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers): “This is my third victory in the Giro, I am very proud of it! This year I have improved a lot thanks to the help of my team. Every little improvement is important and contributes to performances such as this one today.”

Top ride from Almeida

Maglia Rosa, João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step): “It was a good day, I did a good ITT and now I have a few seconds more on Wilco Kelderman in the general classification. I hope to continue like this, I feel good.”

# Stay PEZ for Sunday’s stage 15 and De Ronde van Vlaanderen. #

Giro d’Italia Stage 14 result:
1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) INEOS Grenadiers in 42:40
2. Rohan Dennis INEOS (Aus) Grenadiers at 0:26
3. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates at 1:09
4. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal at 1:11
5. Josef Černý (Cze) CCC at 1:16
6. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck – Quick-Step at 1:31
7. Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Pro Cycling at 1:33
8. Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 1:44
9. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Sunweb at 1:47
10. Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain-McLaren at 2:00
11. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling at 2:06
12. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) NTT Pro Cycling at 2:06
13. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 2:24
14. Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates at 2:32
15. Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC at 2:34
16. Rafal Majka (Pol) BORA-hansgrohe at 2:37
17. Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC at 2:39
18. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC at 2:40
19. Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Start-Up Nation at 2:43
20. Alex Dowsett (GB) Israel Start-Up Nation at 2:49
21. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at 2:50
22. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-McLaren at 2:53
23. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at 2:54
24. Attila Valter (Hun) CCC at 2:59
25. Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R-La Mondiale at 3:00.

Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 14:
1. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck – Quick-Step in 54:28:09
2. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Sunweb at 0:56
3. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-McLaren at 2:11
4. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates at 2:23
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 2:30
6. Rafał Majka (Pol) BORA-hansgrohe at 2:33
7. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling
8. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step at 3:11
9. Patrick Konrad (Aut) BORA-hansgrohe at 3:17
10. Jai Hindley (Aus) Sunweb at 3:33
11. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:44
12. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana at 4:08
13. Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:57
14. James Knox (GB) Deceuninck – Quick-Step at 7:56
15. Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-McLaren at 8:13
16. Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar at 15:29
17. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) CCC at 17:10
18. Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 19:54
19. Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R-La Mondiale at 21:24
20. Sam Oomen (Ned) Sunweb at 26:34
21. Attila Valter (Hun) CCC at 26:51
22. Matteo Fabbro (Ita) BORA-hansgrohe at 27:16
23. Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R-La Mondiale at 34:24
24. Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den) Deceuninck – Quick-Step at 35:34
25. Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Pro Cycling at 37:19.

Like PEZ? Why not subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive updates and reminders on what’s cool in road cycling?