He was today’s big favourite and Alec Segaert did not miss his appointment with the first victory and the first Maglia Rosa of the Giro Next Gen. The Flemish rider frankly annihilated the competition: trust us, 11” over the second in 9.4 kilometres of TT is no small feat. After all, we are dealing with one of the world’s most crystalline talents for time trials.

Last year, in his first season in the U23 category, he became European champion and vice-world champion, only to be beaten by Søren Wærenskjold, who, however, is three years older and had already raced in the pro peloton in events such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. With the Norwegian now definitively in the big leagues, Segaert has become the rider that everyone wants to beat in time trials.

But today, he simply could not be beaten! The Lotto Dstny athlete pulled off an average speed of 52.4 km/h – not bad, also considering that the last few hundred metres were uphill at 4-5% – showing that he had an edge on everyone. At the first checkpoint, located after 3.5 km, he was actually a few seconds behind, but then the Flemish switched gears and waved goodbye to everyone. Loe Van Belle (Jumbo-Visma DT) came second with a gap of 11 seconds, while Aivaras Mikutis (Tudor U23) was 13 seconds slower.

And now, until stage 4 finishing up on Stelvio, the Belgian born in 2003, coached by his brother Loïc, can count on holding on to the Maglia Rosa. To label him solely as a cronoman would be a mistake tough, because even in fast stages like tomorrow’s, the Belgian can aim at going for glory. After all, a rider with his kind of power should be kept an eye on pretty much all kinds of terrains.