Filippo Ganna, Geraint Thomas tip their hats.

Geraint Thomas exalts Filippo Ganna

Geraint Thomas, on the sidelines of the eleventh stage of the Vuelta a España 2023 won by Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), extolled the qualities of Filippo Ganna, his teammate at Ineos Grenadiers, with whom he tried to break the bank in the day’s breakaway.

"Filippo è an incredibly strong guy,” said the Welsh champion. “He reminds me of Wout van Aert from last year's Tour de France. Maybe today was a bit too challenging for him, but he è behaved great".

"The ideal was for me and him to stay together until the end,‖ added Thomas, -forò then I ran out of gas in the tank. From the flagship they thought I was overdoing it, that I had more, and they encouraged me, but I had nothing more to give".

Ganna was fresh from his success in the Valladolid time trial on Tuesday. The Verbanese è was the first Italian cyclist in two years to win a stage at the Vuelta: the last to do so was Damiano Caruso, in the Alto de Velefique stage of the Vuelta 2021.