Ryan Mullen and Nicolas Roche had a difficult day at the World Championships in Imola as home favourite Filippo Ganna proved untouchable and took the elite men's world TT title.
Ganna (24) blasted around the 31.7km out and back course in a time of 35:54 - in an average speed of 52.98km per hour - to win by a very clear margin and add the TT world crown to his individual pursuit world title on the track.
The Italian, who rides for Ineos Grenadiers, was a huge margin of 26 seconds ahead of Wout van Aert, who took silver for Belgium. Swiss rider Stefan Küng claimed the bronze medal some 29 seconds down on the winner.
The winning margin of Ganna over van Aert, at 26 seconds, was the same as that which covered the riders in 2nd position to 8th.
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Ganna is the first Italian rider to ever win the elite men's TT at the worlds and having beaten defending champion Rohan Dennis in the TT at the recent Tirreno-Adriatico he went into today's race as one of the favourites for gold.
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His team mate on Ineos Grenadiers, Geraint Thomas (Great Britain), demonstrated he is on the way back to top form by taking 4th place, finishing 37 seconds down on the winner in his debut appearance in the event.
Dennis of Australia, who won the title for the second time last year, could only manage 5th this time around; losing 39 seconds to the new champion, and team mate on Ineos Grenadiers, Ganna.
While the flat course - with a headwind out and tailwind back to the finish on the Imola motor racing track - would have been expected to suit Ireland's Ryan Mullen he placed 25th, which was disappointing by his own standards.
The 26-year-old lost 2:31 to Ganna while compatriot Nicolas Roche, a more than solid tester but not a specialist against the watch, placed 31st some 3:02 down on the winner.
Roche and Mullen will join 20-year-old Ben Healy in the elite men's road race on Sunday in Italy.
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