In the race of truth, there are always winners and losers - time trials boost some riders' GC hopes and hurt those of others. This was on display at the top of the Giro d'Italia leaderboard on Tuesday in the stage 10 individual time trial from Lucca to Pisa.
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) lost the most time of any overall contender. After starting the day in seventh overall at 1:57, he slid to 11th overall at 2:33.
The Colombian crashed early in the 28.6km time trial, banging his right hip, but bravely carried on despite shipping more than a minute on the top contenders like Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Bernal was gutted to have crashed after just four kilometres and to lose so much time. He stopped beyond the finish line in the pouring rain and then had to wait 15 minutes as his time trial bike was taken away by the UCI to be X-rayed.
"I crashed at the start of the time trial. It was tough," Bernal said, seeming to be in pain and not happy to lose so much time. "The conditions were the same for everyone, but it was very slippery.
"I finished on adrenaline, so I'm not really feeling the effects of the crash just yet, but I don't think it's too bad. I'm more frustrated about the time I lost."
Bernal is hoping his good form and the unpredictable nature of this year's Giro d'Italia continue.
"As we've seen again in the time trial, anything can happen. We're taking it day by day, so I'll only start focusing on the next stage once I'm back at the hotel."
With possible pain in his right hip, Bernal faces a tough mountain stage, featuring the long and steep Alpe San Pellegrino in the little-known Tuscan Apennines.
"It's a hard stage, Alpe San Pellegrino is one of the hardest climbs of this year's Giro. Other teams lost time today as well as us, so let's see what happens," Ineos directeur sportif Zak Dempster said post stage, trying to be optimistic after a painful day in the rain.
Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) had a solid ride, moving from sixth to fourth, mainly due to subpar rides by Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
Not normally considered to be a good time trialist, Yates was one of the few riders smiling in the rain beyond the finish line after limiting his losses to a handful of seconds.
"This was definitely a good day," Yates said.
"After switching to this team, it took a bit of time to get used to the new time trial setup, which I'm actually very happy with. That period of adjustment is paying off now. I think I can still improve, but considering the conditions, we can only say it was a good day."
Yates is 1:03 down on Del Toro and only 38 seconds down on Ayuso. The former Vuelta a España winner and Giro podium finisher can be a real danger to UAE Team Emirates XRG's perceived supremacy in the mountain stages of the third week if Visma-Lease a Bike can finally shake off their run of poor results and misfortune.
"It's great to be up to fourth now," he said.
"I want to stay focused and hopefully play a role in the mountains during the final week. There's still a lot to come in this Giro, but so far, everything is going according to plan."
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