Giro d'Italia TT fight for pink. Just a second!
Primož Roglič takes pink by one clock tick over Mads Petersen.
The race against the clock was as tight as it gets — times two.
First, Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) took his first grand tour victory by clocking a time of 16:07 — which was one second faster than Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).
Roglič is not complaining one bit. He’s still a happy man because he took over the pink jersey from stage one winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) by that same margin. One measly, wonderful second.
The 13.7 time trial around Tirana, Albania with a short affair with a climb to Sauk smack in the middle. The shorter distance meant there was no room for error and riders had to judge their efforts precisely — like down to the second. It was the 21 year old Welshman Tarling who rode the course to perfection.
“I can’t believe it, I’m so happy,” said Tarling, who sat uncomfortably on the hot seat for quite a while. “The wait wasn’t nice. I don’t want to do it again. It was a long day for 13km. I was afraid of all of the favorites – Wout, Mads and Primož really scared me. It was a stressful day.”
For his part, Pedersen refused to go quietly. He fought to keep his first grand tour jersey. He had ten seconds over Roglič to play with and got off to a strong start. By the top of the Sauk climb, he was dead even with the Slovenian. There was hope but not quite enough wattage. He lost it in the final dash to the line. Those damn seconds!
The top ten in Tirana, Albania TT
1. Josh Tarling (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, in 16:07
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, +1s
3. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +3s
4. Edoardo Affini (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6s
5. Mathias Vacek (Cze) Lidl-Trek, at same time
6. Daan Hoole (Ned) Lidl-Trek, +8s
7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, +12s
8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +13s
9. Ethan Hayter (GBr) Soudal-Quick-Step, +14s
10. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +17s