Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) is again the big favourite to win Monday's opening Tirreno-Adriatico time trial, with a surprise defeat arguably creating bigger headlines in La Gazzetta dello Sport than a win.The Italian Champion has won Tirreno-Adriatico time trials four times, three on the roads of the Tuscan coast on stage 1 and once on the roads of the Adriatic on the final day. He has 37 career wins, 30 in time trials.In the absence of his current chrono nemesis Remco Evenepoel, Ganna's biggest rivals appear to be Isaac del Toro (UAE Tam Emirartes-XRG) who has opted to start every, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Britain's Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and perhaps Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who is making his season debut in Italy.Ganna appeared relaxed and ready as he posed with the other big-name Tirreno-Adriatico contenders on Sunday afternoon at a media event. He won the recent time trial at the Volta ao Algarve and is keen to start his final build-up to MIlan-San Remo and the cobbled Classics with a win."I hope to make some headlines but not by losing. Two years ago Juan Ayuso beat me by a second, so I'm not infallible and I don't have a crystal ball to understand the future but I want to win," Ganna told Cyclingnews.Ganna and his Ineos Grenadiers teammates trained on the time trial course on Sunday and also took time to recon the Giro d'Italia time trial that covers the same roads. All the riders can do a final recon of the 11.5km out-and-back seafront course on Monday morning."It's an all-out, 11-minute effort. But there's never a preferred time trial, short or long, simple or technical. They all hurt," Ganna explained."Earlier we did a recon of the Giro d'Italia time trial, which is on similar roads along the Tuscan coast but it's 40km long. That'll be a longer effort, stuck in a time trial tuck and suffering. Time trialing is about suffering but I'm not complaining. It's my thing and I try to win every time I can."
