Giro d'Italia

Ethan Hayter finished a remarkable third on stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia, which kicked off the second week of racing. A 28.6km individual time trial between Lucca and Pisa, the day ended up having a big impact on the general classification, in part due to the rain that completely changed the final hour.

Pisa, the hometown of Galileo Galilei, returned as a finish at the Corsa Rosa after 45 years, at the previous appearance hosting also an ITT won by Jørgen Valdemar Marcussen, who delivered a huge surprise by beating the great Bernard Hinault. Now, the victory went to Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek), but among the riders to impress on this course featuring some tricky corners was also Soudal Quick-Step’s 26-year-old Brit, who scored his first top three in a Grand Tour stage despite being among the early starters.

Back-to-back national champion in this discipline, Hayter rode a superb race, going fastest through both checkpoints before setting the best provisional time at the finish, just a couple of hundreds of meters from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, where he stopped the clock in 32:40 thanks to an average speed of 52.5km/h.

“Leaving Lucca, the roads were still a bit damp following this morning’s rain. There were a few corners where I could have gone faster and the wind was also a factor today, but overall, it was a good time trial from my side. I was hoping to get a nice result, but didn’t think I would be on the podium. It’s my first top three in a Grand Tour, and the fact that it came in a time trial makes me happy. It’s a result that gives me a lot of confidence for the next stages”, said Ethan, who was joined in the top ten by Soudal Quick-Step teammate Mattia Cattaneo, who finished the stage in fourth place.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images