Bjerg impresses on Grand Tour debut at Giro d’Italia

Mikkel Bjerg put in a confident display to finish in 3rd place on the stage 1 individual time trial at the Giro d’Italia. The former under-23 World Champion clocked a time of 15:46 with a blistering average speed of 57.46k km/h, just 22’’ off the time of stage winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).

The opening 15.1 km test went from Monreale to Palermo with the majority of the course gradually twisting downhill. Bjerg will take confidence from the result ahead of the two further time trials to come in the race, the next opportunity coming on stage 14.

Bjerg: “I’m really happy with the result. I think I put in a good performance and it’s probably one of the best results of my career so far. I rode the first little climb at a controlled pace and tried to save my energy for the last section. It was a really fast course and in the last 6 km I pushed hard to really try and make the difference. The wind had an affect but it went as well as it could have. Ganna was just on a different level today.”

Stage 2 will continue in Sicily and take the riders from Alcamo to Agrigento (149 km) with an uphill finish which could favour Ulissi and the other puncheurs.

Stage 1 results:

1.Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) 15’24”

2.Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) +22″

3.Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates)  +22″

General Classification after stage 1:

1.Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) 15’24”

2.Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) +22″

3.Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates)  +22″