Italy's Filippo Ganna pulverised the opposition by almost half a minute on Monday on the Tirreno-Adriatico's opening day 11.5km time trial.
The course was perfectly suited to the double time trial world champion and Paris Olympics silver medallist.
With hardly a corner to negotiate the Ineos man timed 12min 17sec on the route along the picture-postcard Lido di Camaiore coastline.
🇮🇹 𝐓𝐎𝐏. 𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀. 𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐃. #TirrenoAdriatico @CA_Ita pic.twitter.com/EoxeLk5DIb
— Tirreno Adriatico (@TirrenAdriatico) March 10, 2025
Juan Ayuso, defending champion of the seven-day coast to coast race, was second, 23 seconds adrift.
"It's lovely to win by such a margin, and I was faster than last year too," said the softly spoken Ganna who averaged 56.137kph.
For Ayuso, it was an auspicious start and gave him a strong lead over his overall standings rivals such as Tom Pidcock, Pello Bilbao and Richard Carapaz.
After the first part of a pancake flat run Ganna trailed Ayuso by two seconds but an elegant and powerful return run brought victory to the bearded speedster, who learned his trade on the velodrome track.
Spain's Ayuso, Tadej Pogacar's teammate, is a mountains specialist whose 6ft 1in frame helps him excel in the individual efforts too.
Johan Price-Pejtersen, Antonio Tiberi and Jonathan Milan rounded out the top five.
Simon Yates is making his debut in the yellow and black of Visma in this race which will serve as an early season marker for both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.