Italian rider Ganna covered the 25.8 kilometres course in 27mins 39secs as he won the stage by 16 seconds.

Double time-trial world champion Ganna was fastest through both time checks in Valladolid, with an average speed of 56 kilometres an hour on the course.

Belgian Remco Evenepoel, the defending champion in the race, was second on the stage, 16 seconds behind Ganna, which moved him up to third place in the general classification.

Slovenia’s Primož Roglič placed third on the stage with the Jumbo-Visma rider finishing 36 seconds behind Ganna.

Overall leader Kuss, riding for Jumbo-Visma placed 13^th on the stage in a time of 29:08 to lead the general classification by 26 seconds.

Spain’s Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates is second in the overall standings, after placing eighth in today’s stage, gaining 17 seconds on Kuss.

Following his impressive time-trial showing, Evenepoel is third in the general classification at 1:09 behind the leader, with Roglič fourth at 1:36 behind Ganna and France’s Lenny Martinez of Groupama-FDJ in fifth and 2:02 adrift of Kuss.

"It was different for sure [to ride an individual time-trial with a leader’s jersey to defend]," Kuss said.

"Actually I felt surprisingly relaxed. It’s only stage 10 and I knew there’s still so much racing to come and I was just happy starting in the red jersey.

"It’s the first time I’ve started last in a time-trial, so it’s the first time no-one passes me in a time-trial.

"I just tried to keep it simple, enjoy the day and push as hard as possible on the pedals!"

Racing is scheduled to continue tomorrow with a 163.5km stage from Lerma to La Laguna Negra Vinuesa, which is described as flat with an uphill finale, and could potentially be a chance for a breakaway to succeed.