Italian Filippo Ganna retained the individual time trial title at the road cycling World Championships held until September 26.

Bruges, September 20 (RHC/PL)-- Italian Filippo Ganna retained the individual time trial title at the road cycling World Championships held in Belgium through September 26.

Ganna, 25, covered the 43.3-kilometer section starting in Knokke-Heist and finishing here in 47 minutes, 47 seconds and 83 hundredths, time valid to retain the crown he won in the previous edition hosted in his country.

Behind the champion were Belgians Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel, who crossed the finish line in that order at five and 43 seconds, respectively.

In sixth position came the four-time universal champion of the race (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016), the German Tony Martin, at one minute and 17 seconds. For Latin America, the best placed was the Colombian Rigoberto Urán, owner of 34th place, 4:18 minutes behind the winner.

With his victory, Ganna is only the third rider in the history of these races with two crowns in his palmares along with German Jan Ullrich (1999, 2001) and Australian Rohan Dennis (2018, 2019).

The top winners of the race are Swiss Fabian Cancellara (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010), Martin and Australian Michael Rogers (2003, 2004, 2005).

This Monday will take place the second competitive date with the dispute of the men's time trial under-23 years and the women's absolute, both with a section of 30.3 kilometers starting in the town of Knokke-Heist and closing here.

Denmark's Mikkel Bjerg was crowned in the 2019 under-23 years, as 2020 was not contested, while the Netherlands' Anna van der Breggen did it in the previous edition in the women's elite category.

-Time trial classification (m):

-1. Filippo Ganna (ITA) 47:47 minutes.

-2. Wout Van Aert (BEL) at 0:05 seconds.

-3. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) 0:43 '.

-4. Kasper Asgreen (DEN) 0:46 '.

-5. Stefan Küng (SUI) 1:06 min.

-6. Tony Martin (GER) 1:17 '.

-7. Stefan Bissegger (SUI) 1:25 '.

-8. Ethan Hayter (GBR) 1:26 '.

-9. Edoardo Affini (ITA) 1:49 '.

-10. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) 1:53 '.