The 26-year-old Van Aert rode a strong second part of the time trial and was steadily catching up with the later world champion, but the rainbow jersey remained out of reach. Tom Dumoulin finished in tenth place, while Jos van Emden was 21st.

Van Aert hoped for the gold medal, but he had to settle for the silver one. “I started well and had a good rhythm, but just before the end of the first part it started to become a bit more difficult. We had head wind, so I couldn’t keep my rhythm. In the second part my legs turned better again. In the end I just did a really good time trial here, but Ganna was too strong.”

Dumoulin did not have a good feeling in his legs during the time trial. “I feel like I was riding a bad time trial. I soon realised that it was not going to be for me today. I fought until I reached the finish, but to no avail. At the end I almost missed a corner, but luckily I stayed on my bike. This is not the result I was hoping for.”

Both Van Aert and Dumoulin will start on Sunday as the leader of their respective country during the world championship road race.