Vuelta a España stage 10: Ganna powers to time trial win as Kuss retains overall lead

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) produced an untouchable performance on stage 10 of the Vuelta a España to take victory in the individual time trial on Tuesday.

The Italian set a blistering pace through every time check to win ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).

Ganna set a time of 27:39 over the mainly flat 25.8km course, with world time trial champion Evenepoel finishing 16 seconds down. Roglič came over the finish line 19 seconds down on his Belgian rival but put time into all of the remaining GC contenders.

Race leader Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) finished 1:29 down on Ganna but retained the red jersey. The win marked Ganna's 28th victory as a professional rider and Ineos' first stage in this year's Vuelta a España.

In the overall standings Kuss leads Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) by 26 seconds, with Evenepoel at 1:09 and Roglič at 1:36. There was more misery for Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) who saw his strong start disrupted by a mechanical halfway through his effort.

Ganna, though, was in a league of his own, catching four riders out on the course, and powering to the line with an average speed of 56kph. The Italian smashed every early time check set by Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), and even with the GC riders yet to start, looked set to take the victory.

"I'm really happy. After the Giro, it was my dream and goal to try to win. Today I can say that I did that," a relaxed Ganna said at the finish.

"We have another two weeks in front, so we will try again maybe in the road stages and we will like it. After the Worlds, I don't know if the team wanted me or not to come to the Vuelta. But I pushed a lot to come here with Geraint because we worked [together] a lot before the Giro and also after, so to be here now is amazing. To fight for first position is out, but we will try also in the future.

"I think the parcours was really nice, also the time went super well... maybe lucky also with the weather, so I enjoyed it."

Time trial creates further GC gaps

While Ganna dazzled and dominated in equal measure, the stage 10 time trial offered up a detailed assessment of where the GC contenders sat after the first rest day of this year's race.

Evenepoel at times looked uneasy in his TT position but the Belgian certainly rallied in the second half of the test, pushing his slim advantage over Roglič to 16 seconds at the finish.

The Slovenian may not be in the red jersey but his ride in Valladolid ensured that he put more distance between himself and his teammate Vingegaard, who is now 26 seconds down on Roglič in the GC. While Jumbo-Visma are determined not to establish a pecking order - in public at least - the ever-improving Roglič looks more and more like the team's plan A, even if Kuss remains in the lead.

A number of the GC riders finished close together but Enric Mas (Movistar) lost 1:46 on Ganna and significant ground on his podium rivals. The Spaniard enjoyed an incredible team time trial on stage 1 but never looked in contention through Valladolid. He now sits 2:50 down on Kuss, having slipped a place on GC to ninth.

Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) put in a highly respectable time to finish fifth on the stage, and ahead of several potential podium contenders. The Russian is now up to 10th on GC, having climbed two places.

Marc Soler produced one of the best time trials of his career to retain second place overall and keep UAE Team Emirates with three riders inside the top 10 overall. Juan Ayuso and João Almeida have been virtually inseparable in the race so far, but it's Soler who has stolen a march, and is the only rider currently within a minute of Kuss' lead.

Elsewhere, Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) lost almost two and a half minutes to Ganna and was caught for two minutes by Evenepoel. The Spaniard dropped six places to 11th overall as he looks to close out his Bahrain career in typically unpredictable style.

The more content rider at the finish, however, was arguably Roglič. Ganna won the stage, Evenepoel looked strong, but the Slovenian only shipped a few seconds to the defending champion, while also distancing Vingegaard and all his other rivals.

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