Italian national champion Filippo Ganna blasted across the cobbles in Mons to win the 32.7km individual time trial on stage 4 of the Tour de Wallonie. Teammates Josh Tarling and Connor Swift finished second and third, respectively, to make it a team sweep for Ineos Grenadiers.
Stage 3 winner and GC leader Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck) saw the clock tick off 3:19 more than Ganna and he handed over the GC lead to Ganna, who celebrated his 27th birthday with the leader's jersey. With one stage remaining, Tarling is now second overall, 18 seconds back, and Swift is 40 seconds back in third. Kielich moved out of the top 10.
"I'm happy to have won the time trial of the 4th stage of the Ethias Tour de Wallonie in Mons. I salute the performances of my young teammate Joshua Tarling and Connor Swift, which gives us the podium of the day. I am happy that my victory in the CLM of Mons comes on top of my success in the sprint in the first stage. Victory is always very encouraging for the team," Ganna said in a race statement.
"I know that the 5th stage is tough but I will do everything to keep the orange leader's jersey until the end. I have good feelings for the World Championship."
Swift was the eighth rider on the course and went into the hot seat with 38:31, and stayed there as 56 riders crossed the line and Tarling eclipsed him by 24 seconds.
It was not until the top 10 riders were on the course that the best time was challenged, first by Brent Van Moer (Lotto Dstny) who finished with the third best time, 27 seconds back, until Ganna dominated the course.
Ganna, the third-to-last starter, set the second-best time at the first time check, positioned on a descent of the mid-race climb and was four seconds behind Tarling. He continued to up the pace and finished in 38:01, eight seconds better than Tarling, who debuted his TT skinsuit as the British national champion.
A significant non-starter for the stage was Davide Ballerini, who was eight seconds behind race leader Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in fourth overall. His Soudal-QuickStep team said he pulled out of the race due to knee pain, which was aggravated in a crash on stage 3.
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