Filippo Ganna adds 7th Italian time trial title to his palmares as Visma's Affini crashes hard

Filippo Ganna has been crowned Italian time trial champion for the seventh time. The 29-year-old from Netcompany INEOS left the competition in the dust on a challenging course just over 40 kilometers long. The time trial was overshadowed by a hard crash involving Edoardo Affini.

Ganna delivering a magnificent time trial on home soil couldn't have come at a better time for Netcompany INEOS. In the run-up to the Tour de France, the British team has so far faced nothing but bad news. Kévin Vauquelin’s illness makes his participation uncertain and Oscar Onley has been ruled out entirely due to an injury.

Ganna is usually a safe bet in July. Just like at the Giro d'Italia, he was in a class of his own in his discipline. Luca Giaimi finished second, somewhat surprisingly, for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, though at a deficit of 2.06 minutes. Mattia Cataneo rounded out the podium, finishing third for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, 2.36 minutes behind.

After Wednesday’s many time trials, there was plenty of racing against the clock on Thursday as well. In addition to Affini’s recent injury, Visma | Lease a Bike also welcomed a new national champion, Viktória Chladonová, in Slovakia. The young women performed well in the elite category anyway, as 21-year-old Zoe Bäckstedt became the British time trial champion again, defending her title by 20 secs over Morris.

"It feels great to win the title again and to be able to wear the jersey for another year. I'm really happy about that," Chladonová said in a press release from her team. "I think I started out a little too fast, because I couldn’t quite keep up the pace in the final stretch. Still, I’m incredibly proud to have won again."

Eduardo Affini may now miss the Tour de France after a hevy crash at the Italian time trial championships. Visma reported on X that he was conscious after the crash, but they will continue to monitor him. Filippo Ganna, who won the Italian time trial, said afterwards: 'I feel sorry for Edoardo, I hope he recovers in time.'

In the Italian hospital, Affini was givin a 'code green' which is reserved for a 'non-emergency situation or minor procedure'. Reportedly, Affini has not broken anything, but Visma | Lease a Bike will ultimately have to provide news of his Tour de France participation in the coming days.

After Wout van Aert's removal from the provisional Tour team (replaced by out-and-out climber Davide Piganzoli), the loss of another 'big man' would be a blow to Vingegaard's chances of winning a third Tour de France.