Ortona (Italy) (AFP) - Remco Evenepoel won the first stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday, speeding over the 19.6km run along the Adriatic coast in 21min 18sec and leaving key rival Primoz Roglic some 43 seconds adrift in sixth.
Italy's Filippo Ganna was second at 22sec and Joao Almeida of Portugal was third at 29sec on the long straight route that rarely left the shoreline on the first of 21 stages in the three-week race.
The 23-year-old Soudal-Quick Step rider Evenepoel opted to ride the Giro rather that the Tour de France as it features three individual time-trials at which he excels.
Setting off in his Belgian national time-trial champion's shirt, the world road race and Vuelta a Espana winner did most of the damage in the first 10km.
The Giro finishes on May 28 in Rome with the penultimate stage another individual time-trial up a mountainside.
Stage two on Sunday is a largely flat run over 201km from Teramo to San Salvo, with the first of the fearsome mountain stages where Roglic may excel taking place on Friday.
