VIAREGGIO, Italy, May 19 (Reuters) - Italian Filippo Ganna sailed to an easy victory in stage 10's individual time trial at the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday, and pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard failed in his bid to take the overall lead as Afonso Eulalio battled hard to hold on to the pink jersey.
Two-time world time trial champion Ganna was the hot favourite to triumph in the 42 km ride from Viareggio to Massa, and while the Italian lived up to the expectations, Vingegaard was forced to wait to take the leader's jersey.
Ganna had little to worry about while waiting for confirmation of his eighth Giro stage win -- seven of those have come in time trials -- with his Netcompany-Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman coming second, one minute 54 seconds behind.
"We have done an amazing job last winter to prepare for time trials," Ganna said.
"And it can be seen also with the GC riders of the team, look at Thymen Arensman in second place."
The Dutchman had five seconds to spare over Frenchman Remi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United) who finished third and Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was three minutes down on Ganna in 13th place.
Surprise leader Portugal's Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious), who took the pink jersey after stage fiveand began the day two minutes and 24 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, dug deep to limit the damage and still holds a 27-second overall lead.
In the only time trial of this year's race, Vingegaard was expected to seize control, and while he is now within touching distance of Eulalio, the Portuguese rider defied the odds.
"I'm not expecting a good time trial," Eulalio had said before the stage.
"This time trial is totally flat, maximum speed, it's the worst possible type of stage for a lightweight climber like me. It's going to be suffering."
Suffer he did, but with the finish in sight, Eulalio found an extra gear to power to the line.
Arensman was the big mover in the general classification, up from sixth spot to third overall, and is one and a half minutes behind Vingegaard, while Felix Gall slipped from 35 seconds off the Dane to almost two minutes adrift.
Gall had been Vingegaard's main rival on the recent summit finishes, where the favourite won two stages, and the Austrian will now need to push hard once more to recoup his losses.
Wednesday's stage 11 is a 195 km ride from Porcari to Chiavari.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
