Last year, Ganna was already the fastest on the 11.5 kilometre course in Lido di Camaiore, which also opened the tour a year ago. This year it was the second victory for the 29-year-old, who had already won the time trial of the Tour of the Algarve. In total, it was the 37th victory on the road for the Italian champion, who thus started the second day in the leader's jersey.

Ganna had to fight to even be able to start at the Tirreno. And he did so with his team, which would actually have preferred to see the specialist in the battle against the clock in the parallel Paris-Nice race, as a team time trial is also on the programme there. But Ganna prevailed and, with his victory in the opening race, at least fulfilled the minimum requirement that INEOS must have set him.

Roglic takes a few seconds from Del Toro

The British team was the dominant team in the season opener. In addition to first and second place, Magnus Sheffield also finished fourth. And it was fractions of a second and Walscheid that prevented a complete INEOS podium. Both Walscheid and Sheffield were classified 26 seconds behind, with the tenths in favour of the German.

"I'm very happy," said Ganna after his victory. "Yesterday I said that I didn't want to put too much strain on my legs. But I'm in good shape and my legs are going well. However, I didn't have my best feeling on the bike." He also referred to the collective strength of his team. "My team-mates Thymen Arensman and Magnus Sheffield put in a fantastic performance. As a team, we are in a really good position. We were faster than predicted. Hopefully we'll continue to have such good weather conditions over the next few days. I don't want to lose the leader's jersey, so I'll do everything I can to defend it."

>> Tirreno-Adriatico 2026: Route and stages in detail

If Ganna was also in this position at the end of the tour, it would be tantamount to a sansation. Arensman, who was able to make up the first seconds on his biggest rivals in the battle for the overall standings, would be more likely to do so. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) in seventh place was 31 seconds behind Ganna, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) two seconds more. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), who is probably the top favourite, had to accept another three seconds more.

Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 - Results of the 1st stage