Young Spaniard 2nd overall, 23'' down on flying Ganna

Juan Ayuso got off to a strong start on day one of Tirreno-Adriatico, with the 22-year-old taking 2nd place on the stage behind the absolute favourite Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers).

The Italian stage race began with the usual out-and-back time trial of 11.5km in the town of Lido di Camaiore on Italy’s western coast, with Ayuso aiming to defend his victory of 12 months ago on this stage.

Ayuso, who holds two victories to his name already this year, clocked a time of 12:14, blitzing the pan-flat course with an average speed of 54.4kmph.

The result sees the UAE Team Emirates-XRG co-leader now sitting in 2nd overall and will well the white jersey as best young rider on stage 2 tomorrow from Camaiore to Follonica (192km). The podium was rounded out by Johan Price-Pejtersen (Lidl-Trek).

Isaac Del Toro also put in a notable performance with the Mexican talent sneaking into the top 10 in 9th spot at +38”.

Ayuso: “I think I managed a good ride, especially with the General Classification in mind. I missed a little bit on the final leg coming back after the turn, I didn’t have quite the sensations I hoped for. The performance Ganna did was amazing so congratulations to him. For the coming days, the idea will be to stay up front and try and gain time. We’re probably going to have some rain in the next days so each day will count. Then of course we’ll have some of the big hilly days later in the week which we’ll be fully focused on.”

Stage 1 results & General Classification

1.Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) 12:17”

2.Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +23”

3.Johan Price-Jejtersen (Lidl-Trek) +28”

9.Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +38”