As the dust settled (quite literally) on Sunday’s monumental gravel stage in Tuscany, Primoz Roglic was his usual even-tempered self. There’s still a long way to go until the finish in Rome, he reminded reporters - and the race favourite, now down to 10th on GC after a disastrous day on the sterrato, can kick-start his fight back to the top with today’s time trial.
After a day off on Monday to recover and lick their wounds, where applicable, the riders resume the battle for the maglia rosa on Tuesday with the second of two TTs.
This one is 28.6km from Lucca to Pisa and although it’s twice as long as stage two’s contre-la-montre in Albania, the course profile is broadly similar, with a slight rise in the middle of the route before flattening off for a fast run-in to Pisa, and the exact same elevation gain of 150m.
The riders will circle the city walls in Lucca before taking a few turns until the first time check, where the course straightens out for the uphill section. From there it follows fast, sweeping roads towards Pisa, with a finish by - where else - the Leaning Tower. There’s a potential spanner in the works in the form of a late cobbled section with 500m to go, which continues until the final corner.
The Albanian time trial featured a category four climb, whereas this rise is uncategorised, and as such it should be one for the specialists, with the better time-trialists of the GC contenders looking to make up time.
Some riders went down hard in a crash on Sunday’s gravel stage, Roglic among them, with Juan Ayuso - his biggest rival for the overall title - reportedly needing stitches in his knee after a crash of his own.
But the Spaniard has an advantage of over a minute on the 2023 champion, who has serious ground to make up. He’ll hope for a replica result of the Albanian TT, when he finished second and put some time into Ayuso, while the climbers Richard Carapaz, Egan Bernal and Giulio Ciccone - all above Roglic in the GC at the moment - were even further back.
The weather could also play a part, with rain and thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon and the roads - particularly that final cobbled section - treacherous.
Route map and profile
Start time
Stage 10 is set to start at around 1.15pm local time (12.15 BST), with the first rider setting off then, and the last set to come in at 5.15pm local time (4.15 BST).
Prediction
As the course is so similar to the previous time trial, it seems reasonable to expect plenty of the same standout names to perform again today. European TT champion Edoardo Affini produced a strong ride for fourth, while Mathias Vacek has been the relevation of this Giro so far - although he had a long day in the saddle on stage nine.
Roglic needs to claw back every second he can get and Ayuso is a fine time-triallist, but both could be rather worse for wear after their crashes. Let’s go with Josh Tarling: the Ineos man is flying and looks well-placed to secure the TT double.
