On the flat course of 8.6 kilometres in Turin, David Dekker was one of the first riders to make his appearance. For the young rider it was his debut in a grand tour. Not much later Dylan Groenewegen made his return to the professional peloton. After more than nine months without a race, the sprinter was pleased to finally be able to pin on a number again. “I felt a good tension. I have been looking forward to this for a long time. It feels good to be part of the team again”, Groenewegen said.

Foss set a serious target time. It took the Norwegian exactly nine minutes to finish his individual time trial. Affini replaced Foss in the hotseat a little later. He rode three seconds faster than his teammate. After time trial specialists like Rémi Cavagna, Remco Evenepoel and João Almeida had beaten the time of the Italian, the day’s victory suddenly seemed on the horizon for Affini. Top favourite Ganna ultimately kept Affini from the first pink jersey.

Afterwards Foss spoke with satisfaction about his performance on the first day of the Giro. “This was a good time trial. Along the way I felt good and I already knew that this would result in a good time. It is especially important for me to take new steps in my development in this race and to help the team. I can be satisfied with this nice result.”

Affini confirmed after his effort that he has gotten the most out of over eight kilometres. “It was a very fast time trial. I gave everything I had. I achieved a high pace. I was able to accelerate in the last three kilometres. You have to find the limit for yourself and maybe even exceed it. There was no other option than to go flat out from the start to the finish. That’s what I did and in the end it paid off with the second place. I would have signed up for that in advance.”

George Bennet rode to 52nd place. The New Zealand national champion conceded a few seconds to a handful of competitors, but also took advantage of riders such as Landa, Bardet and Buchmann. “It was a good day for us as a team. I had hoped to be a bit faster. In hindsight I gained time on some guys and didn’t lose too much on the competition. The majority of the GC riders are close together. Of course, this was only the first day of three long weeks. We have not yet ridden ten kilometres and still have more than three thousand to go.”