British Cycling hires Filippo Ganna's coach to guide Joshua Tarling into Olympic dream

Cycling can be quite an unusual sport at times. Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling are teammates at INEOS Grenadiers but big rivals for the upcoming Olympic Games time-trial event. Both are big candidates for the gold medal, alongside Remco Evenepoel. However Ganna's own coach will be in Paris in support of Tarling because of British Cycling.

"We have already explored the course with Elisa Longo Borghini, Alberto Bettiol and coach Marco Velo during the official reconnaissance," Filippo Ganna told TuttoBiciWeb. "I feel good and am focused for this test. All the work has been done, with many altitude training camps and specific training, so I feel ready. I'm going all-in, it's gold or nothing. I don't think I'm one of the favourites right away, but I want to dream big, give my all on my Pinarello and cross the finish line without a sprint. We're here to win, so I'm only thinking about the top step at the moment. If someone is better and I've done well, then I'll still be happy".

Ganna, former world time-trial champion, is certainly a big fan of the completely flat and non-technical route that will decide the Olympic title in Paris this Saturday; and is the big favourite alongside Tarling and Evenepoel; with the trio being somewhat above the rest of the competition. Ganna has won big races this year but hasn't been unbeatable against the clock - against a background of GC riders that get increasingly stronger in the time-trials. However here he can take a huge title to add to his palmarès, but he is preparing for the event without the support of his coach Dario Cioni, because British Cycling hired him specifically to guide Tarling into the race.

"Of course I would have preferred to have Dario by my side, just like at the World Championships or during my world hour record attempt," Ganna admitted, on the topic. "But I also understand that this is a great opportunity for him and maybe our federation can also consider hiring a World Tour coach in the future, as British Cycling has done now".