Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) may have been caught out at the wrong time in the finale of stage 3 at Tirreno-Adriatico (2.UWT) but what he lacked in positioning he made up for with brute force.
With 12.5km to go on the 216km stage into Foligno, the field took a left hander. And on an open stretch of road, with the breeze coming from the right, Jumbo Visma hit the front and ramped up the pace, having already been stretching out the field for a few kilometres beforehand.
The moment they rounded that left hander, the peloton became lined out. And though Ganna - in the race leader's blue jersey - was a long, long way back, he immediately sensed the danger. He moved up the outside of the bunch, in the wind with no shelter, and began overtaking riders.
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As he gained ground, the pace of the effort on the very front resulted in gaps appearing all over the bunch. Riders like Wout van Aert and Primož Roglič (both Jumbo Visma) were relaying with Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën Team), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and others on the front.
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Ganna reached the head of the peloton and then rode clear of it, with a small line of riders on his wheel. He then went across the gap to the small front group - of about a dozen riders - and made the catch. While most of the field later came together, paving the way for a bunch sprint, it was a serious burst of power from Ganna.
He had already underlined his form on the stage 1 TT, winning the 11.5km test by 28 seconds from Lennard Kämna (Bora-hansgrohe), the same margin that covered the riders from 2nd to 18th positions on the stage.
Today's race was won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), after a lead-out from Mathieu van der Poel. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) was 2nd and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) 3rd with Ganna holding the race lead.
