Pre-race favourite Filippo Ganna won his maiden individual time trial world title on home soil as the Italian crushed his rivals over 32 kilometres on Saturday (NZ time), as Kiwi Patrick Bevin finsihed 12th.
The 24-year-old, a four-times individual pursuit world champion on the track, clocked 35m minutes 54.10s to beat Belgian Wout van Aert by 26.72s.
"It's a dream for me, I had great support from the team car, I want to thank the whole Italian team," says Ganna. "I had no pressure. I was coming for a podium finish having won four rainbow jerseys on the track already."
Ganna is the first Italian to win the individual time trial at the road world championships.
Swiss Stefan Kung took third place, 29.80s off the pace as Australian Rohan Dennis, who had won the two previous titles, ended up a disappointing fifth.
Experienced Kiwi rider Bevin was forced to settle for 12th, while Finn Fisher-Black, the youngest rider in the field, was 50th.
"I left it all out there, but on the day, I just didn't go fast enough," says Bevin. "It is easy to say because physiologically it is so hard to go over your limit from the start.
"I had two relatively even splits and came home well. Last year I went from 17th fastest at halfway to fourth but today it was 17th to 12th.
"There were a lot of riders coming off racing form and suited to the shorter time trial today. It was not a bad performance, but I have high expectations of myself and so I am naturally a little disappointed.
"There are fine margins in time trials and I was probably a couple of percent off today but that is all it takes."
Briton Geraint Thomas, who is gearing up for next month's Giro d'Italia finished an encouraging fourth after making a fast start.
Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, the 2017 champion, endured a bad day at the office, narrowly avoiding a crash in the finale and finishing 10th, more than one minute off the pace.
The road world championships continue on Sunday with the women's race, which will feature Kiwis Niamh Fisher-Black, the national road champion, Mikayla Harvey and Georgia Williams.
Newshub/Reuters
