Filippo Ganna takes BinckBank Tour time trial victory as Tim Wellens retains overall lead

Filippo Ganna (Team Ineos) took his maiden WorldTour victory with an emphatic win on the BinckBank Tour stage six individual time trial.

The Italian beat his compatriot Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton-Scott) by five seconds over the short and fast 8.4km course, averaging 54.3kmh to clock a time of 9-16.

Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), who led the overall by four seconds at the start of the day ahead of Marc Hirschi (Sunweb), extended his lead to eight seconds with one stage remaining. The Belgian finished 20 seconds down on stage winner Ganna to take 10th place on the stage.

Laurens De Plus (Jumbo-Visma) gained two seconds on Hirschi and Wellens in the time trial and remains in third place, with the top-three tightly packed with just 12 seconds between them. Fourth place now sits at 40 seconds down, with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) leaping up from 11th after finishing fourth on the stage at 11 seconds down.

With 145 riders to take to the short course after Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) opted not to begin the stage, the real competitive times didn't start to emerge until the last 90 riders began to take to the course.

Britain's Harry Tanfield (Katusha-Alpecin) set a quality time of 9-31, beating then leader Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) by six seconds. Tanfield wouldn't have long to enjoy his moment in the hot seat however, with Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma) coming through to take the lead with a time of 9-24.

The Dutchman likewise would have little time to consider his lead, with Italian champion Ganna coming through not long after to decimate his time by eight seconds.

Forty-five riders still needed to complete their efforts after Ganna finished, with some possible threats to his first victory on the WorldTour. Edoardo Affini came closest not long after to finish five seconds down, while Deceuninck-Quick-Step's Bob Jungels could only muster a time 16 seconds slower than Ganna.

Küng then came in 11 seconds behind, with things now looking very good for the Team Ineos man in the hot seat.

De Plus and Wellens looked to be the only riders likely to challenge the top places, but as both of them came in at 18 and 20 seconds down, Ganna was able to celebrate his victory.

The BinckBank Tour finishes on Sunday with a 178.1km stage from Sint-Pieters-Leeuw to Geraardsbergen that takes on the iconic Muur van Geraardsbergen.

Results

BinckBank Tour 2019, stage six: Den Haag to Den Haag (8.4km)

1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Team Ineos, in 9-16

2. Edoardo Affini (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott, at 5s

3. Jos van Emden (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma, at 8s

4. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 11s

5. Harry Tanfield (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin, at 15s

6. Bob Jungels (Lux) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, at 16s

7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo

8. Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb, all at same time

9. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma, at 18s

10. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 20s

General classification after stage six

1. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, in 17-37-10

2. Marc Hirschi (Sui) Team Sunweb, at 8s

3. Laurens De Plus (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, at 12s

4. Stefan Küng (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, at 40s

5. Ivan Garcia (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 43s

6. Mike Teunissen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma, at 45s

7. Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb

8. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 49s

9. Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Dimension Data, at 53s

10. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) CCC Team, at 54s