Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) lost hold of the leader's blue jersey at Tirreno-Adriatico on Saturday, but a determined effort on the final climb to the summit finish at Frontignano allowed the Italian to maintain a spot on the provisional overall podium with one day to race.
His team called it "one of the strongest climbing performances" across his 11 years in the pro peloton, the last six of those with Ineos Grenadiers. Having become comfortable in the leader's jersey since taking a solid lead in stage 1's 11.5km time trial, Ganna was guided by his Ineos squad through the hilliest day of the week, with teammate Laurens De Plus riding guard until the final 7.7km Frontignano ascent.
On the climb with an average gradient of 7.8% and pitches in double digits, Ganna held his own on stage 6 and finished 13th in a select group with Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), David de la Cruz (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Simon Yates (Visam-Lease a Bike), the quintet 50 seconds behind stage winner and new GC leader Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
"In the end I am fighting, so I am really happy for the performance," he told Sporza and a small gathering of media including Cyclingnews at the finish before fleeing the cold weather to clean up and take a shower.
The two-time time trial World Champion found himself comfortable in the blue jersey from the opening day, scoring a solid victory in the 11.5km ITT in Lido di Camaiore and taking a 23-second advantage over Ayuso. While the Spanish climber took command of the GC with his solo effort on stage 6, Ganna settled into a menacing tempo to hold a top-three in the overall.
"Sometimes I need the recovery. Actually the legs are a bit sore," Ganna joked at the finish about settling into a group of climbers on the final segment of the 163km stage.
Not only did Ganna limit his losses, he also held off Canadian Derek Gee from overtaking his third-place position. Gee finished sixth on Saturday, 20 seconds behind Ayuso, but it was Ganna who maintained a steady pace that was not expected and crossed the line another 30 seconds later, which allowed the Italian to hold a 4-second advantage over the Canadian with a flat day remaining.
"The podium is done at the moment, so see tomorrow what can happen," Ganna said. "We're fighting, we try to defend, to keep [options] open."
Gee was part of a pack which caught a decimated breakaway on the final climb, riding alongside eventual stage winner Ayuso and heavy hitters Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) and Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost). Gee struggled when Ayuso attacked with 3km to go and the small group he was in fragmented into small bunches of chasers.
Gee said the week had been a really good learning experience, but he doubted the GC would change on the final day.
"If I add like a 1,000 watts to my sprint maybe I'll take some bonus seconds tomorrow," he said.
Tirreno-Adriatico concludes Sunday with 147km from Porto Potenza Picena to San Benedetto del Tronto. Once across a single categorized climb at kilometre 56.5, a long descent of Ripatransone announces the final 77 flat kilometres, the majority comprised of five, fast finishing circuits.
