
Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Nicolas Roche (Team DSM) have brought their Giro d'Italia campaign to an end with 86th and 94th respectively in the final TT today.
Martin (34) was in 10th place starting the stage and held that position after the test despite losing time. There were such big gaps between Martin and the riders ahead of him and behind him that his GC placing was never going to change over 30.3km today.
Tobias Foss (Jumbo Visma) was in 9th overall this morning and was 4:09 ahead of Martin. George Bennett (Jumbo Visma) was 11th this morning, a huge 8:07 behind the Irishman.
It meant Martin could have pulled the TT ride of his life out of the bag or absolutely tanked and it wouldn't have moved him up or down. He ended the race 10th overall, some 18:35 down on Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), having lost 1:47 to the Colombian today.

That 10th overall placing would have been a disappointment to Martin, especially in the context of his 4th overall at the Vuelta last year, if he had not taken his stage win. But that brilliant victory on stage 17 to Sega di Ala combined with his 10th on GC was a great return for him.
And while he was bitterly disappointed with his time losses on stage 11 over the gravel, and looking very upset at stage end, those losses only cost him one place on the final classification.
Nicolas Roche was riding the Giro in support of his Team DSM leader, Romain Bardet, but also got some chances to go for his own results. He got clear in the breakaway on stage 18 and placed 3rd after proving one of the strongest from the large escape group.
Roche was not riding for time today, or any day, on the race but today was still something of a disappointment for him. While Bardet began the TT 5th overall, he slipped two places and ended the race in 7th.
Daniel Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) moved into 5th place and João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) moved up to 6th in the final standings after the TT. That pushed not only Bardet down two places to 7th but also Hugh Carthy (EF Education Nippo) down one to 8th.
The TT today was won by world champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers); the second TT victory of the race for him to add to his three TT wins on his Grand Tour debut at the Giro last year. He went around the 30.3km course today in 33:48, or 53.8km per hour, despite needing a bike change when he punctured.
Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was 2nd at 12 seconds and would have capitalised on Ganna's puncture and won the stage but for crashing when he completely missed a bend in the closing stages of his ride.
Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) was 3rd today at 13 seconds and Matteo Sobrero (Astana-Premier Tech) was 4th at 14 seconds. Sobrero would have finished on the stage podium today had he not almost crashed with the Groupama-FDJ car in the congestion close to the finish when he was closing on three riders all at the same time.
But there was no mistaking the winner of the final maglia rosa as Bernal crossed the line with his two arms in the air despite being on his TT bike. He was 24th today some 1:53 down on Ganna. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) was 2nd overall, at 1:29, and he beat Bernal by 30 seconds today.
Simon Yates (BikeExchange) was 3rd in the final standings, a comprehensive 4:15 down on Bernal. The British rider could only manage 51st in today's TT, losing 52 seconds to Bernal and 1:22 to Caruso.
Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) wrapped up victory in the points classification today, with Bernal taking the young rider classification and Ineos Grenadiers claiming the team prize. and Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën) won the climbers' classification.



