While Rohan Dennis and Remco Evenpole were much talked about ahead of the World Championships elite men's time trial, the third man on the podium, Italy's Filippo Ganna, was lower on most people's list of potential winners, including his own.

Ganna, competing in his first World Championships in the elite category, rode a near-perfect 54km time trial, 1:55 ahead of defending Australian champion Dennis and 47 seconds ahead of Evenpole (Belgium), but fourth place Patrick Bevin (New Zealand) by two seconds to take the bronze medal. [He became only the second Italian in World Championships history to win a medal in the elite men's time trial, following Andrea Chirato in 1994 and Adriano Malori in 2015.

"It's strange for me, but yesterday someone asked me, 'What are your expectations for the race?' ' And he asked me, 'I wanted to finish in the top 10, but not in the top three. But I never dreamed of a top-three finish.' [I'm happy to have won a medal at my first World Championships as an elite. Of course, there were Rohan Dennis and Remco Evenpole in front of me, but their achievements speak for themselves.

Gana, who finished fourth at the intermediate checkpoint and third at the finish, judged the race well and set an even pace on the undulating Yorkshire course.

"It was a very long but good race. I think I needed to lighten my weight a bit because there were a lot of strong riders in the middle part of the race and not all the climbs were easy. My legs were on fire, but in the end I took the glory."

Ganna was something of a surprise medalist, but he is far from a surprise. He is already a three-time world champion in track and has the fastest individual pursuit time at sea level.

Already a top-level international success on the track, Ganna began his journey as a road rider in Yorkshire. He turned pro with UAE Team Emirates in 2017 and joined Team Ineos earlier this year and has been combining road and major track events all along. He has won two major titles in the past two years: the BinckBank Tour and the time trial at the Tour de la Provence, as well as the Italian national title.

But the World Championships are a different story. The Binkbank and Provence time trials are only 8 km, twice the distance of the Pursuit, and the Italian championships are 20 km shorter than the 54 km course in Yorkshire.

"It's very different. It's about an hour longer, considering what we do on the track,"

Ganna said.

"I've been working on this specialty with the team. We have studied my position and the right moments for recovery during the race, for example the downhills. We've looked at all the unique aspects of the bike. I've done a lot of research and arrived at this point."

Ganna, however, is not satisfied with these results, insisting that this is only the beginning of the road for him.

"We have a lot more work to do now. I'm almost two minutes behind Dennis. I have a lot of work to do, but for now I'm really happy. I am still young and there is still a lot of time left. I want to continue to grow. For now I just want to recover a little bit and see what happens next year and in the future.

"I want to keep moving in the right direction," Ganna said. It's a long road, but time is on my side."