For the Italian, born in Mantua, it was a ride close to his birth area. "It was very cool to ride on familiar roads," Affini said after entering the race. "I saw a lot of friends and family along the way. It feels nice that they made the effort to come and watch the Giro d'Italia. It definitely gave me wings. I enjoyed it, besides the suffering."

Affini's analysis showed that he knew the course well. "You could divide this time trial into two parts. The first part was pretty technical. It was important not to immediately waste all the energy there. The second part was on pure power. There it was possible to put in a lot of power."

Afterwards, Affini was satisfied with his performance. "It was a pretty good time trial. I gave it my all. It is always difficult to go all out after two weeks in a grand tour, but I think I did well. The fatigue must have been there for everyone. Other guys rode very strongly here as well. Of course, the field of competitors is quite strong. I can certainly be satisfied with tenth place," concluded the 27-year-old Italian.

In addition to Affini, Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke and Attila Valter also rode a decent time trial. The trio went full steam ahead and all rode the chrono of over 31 kilometers in less than forty minutes. For Tratnik and Van Dijke, a place among the top twenty was the result.