Saturday night's celebration at the Isola delle Fenmine hotel was called "very low-key" by Filippo Ganna as the first Maria Rosa of the 2020 Giro d'Italia returned from a media availability at the stage finish in Palermo, She gathered her Ineos Grenadiers teammates and staff in front of the Saracen Sands Hotel in the parking lot. [After Ganna successfully defended his jersey on stage 2 in Agrigento, he said, "There are 20 stages ahead, no, 19 stages ahead. We toasted the team in the hotel parking lot and congratulated each other. Geraint [Thomas] told me he was proud of me, and I'm equally proud to have a leader and a team that supports me."

Ganna's dominance was undisputed in Saturday's downhill time trial from Monreale to Palermo, where the world champion of the discipline rode the 15.1km course more than 1.5km/h faster than anyone else. He held firm on the short climb to Agrigento on stage 2 and finished safely in the main peloton, but he dismissed the notion that he was tempted to follow the acceleration of stage winner Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and others in the finale.

"It's always nice to win, and it would have been spectacular with the pink jersey on my back, but I was a bit closed off," Ganna said. I thought it was better to keep the skin on my back rather than risk crashing and leaving the jersey on the road. It was difficult to keep the jersey today.

The Italians, of course, are well aware of the risk of losing the back jersey on Monday. The 18.5km journey from Ringagrossa to Piano Provenzana is reportedly not as tough as the side the Giro challenged two years ago, but still more difficult than the climb to Rifugio Sapienza used in the 2017 race.

Ganna's physique is hardly climber-friendly, and the 24-year-old is 1.94 meters tall, but he showed an aptitude for long, shallow climbs at the Vuelta a San Juan in January, finishing sixth in the Alto Colorado and second overall; the Giro in October, of course, was a different kind of test entirely, and his overall lead is just 22 seconds over Joan Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

"For me Etna is long and endless. Etna is long and endless. It will be an important climb for the overall class and I will be there to support Geraint Thomas, who has already proven he has great legs," Gana said.

"If I have to lose the jersey, let's hope it stays with Ineos. Tomorrow we will be indebted to Gelant and if he takes the jersey, we will be happy with that."

Indeed.

In fact, Ganna's dedication to the cause is so strong that he suggested not aiming for the Valdobbiadene time trial on stage 14, but saving it to use his legs for Thomas in Piacavallo 24 hours later.

"I have to be ready for Gelant the next day," Ganna said, smiling when asked how he felt after a weekend in which he added Maria Rosa to the rainbow jersey he won in Imola a week or so ago.

"I'm happy," she said. And I know I did something big for Italian cycling."