"Everyone wants the Filippo of 2020, but it’s hard" - Filippo Ganna aims at Paris-Roubaix success as he looks to stabilize career

Filippo Ganna has broke through the pro scene with absolute dominance in the time-trials over 2020, but has since lost his dominant edge. The Italian is looking to stabilize in his career and focus on new goals as he can no longer rely on the time-trials to snatch many wins, and Paris-Roubaix is perhaps the main goal he dreams of.

“To be honest, I came out of it much better than I thought. I think everyone wants the Filippo of 2020, but it’s hard," he tells in an interview with Cyclingnews. "Every year you try to improve your condition and yourself, but it’s not easy. I want to try because the Giro, for me, is the most important race ever.”

After joining INEOS in 2019, Ganna became the world's best time-trialist taking two world titles, six stages at the Giro d'Italia and many more in the space between 2020 and 2021. This put him at a level that was unreachable by any other specialist, but in 2022 he's seen his dominance fade significantly. As he settles into a new role in the peloton, he looks into the cobbled classics aswell as terrain to succeed - Paris-Roubaix being the endgoal.

“I learned that you have to save energy before the Arenberg and try to arrive there as fresh as possible, and it’s important to eat and drink a lot before the Arenberg because, after that, it’s left and right, left and right,” he continues. “But last year, my problem was that I spent a week in bed after Tirreno, and then I was chasing my shape. You need to arrive at 100% at the race because, at Paris-Roubaix, 50% of the riders are there to work for the leader, and the other 50% are leaders.”

Ganna has now raced Roubaix on three occasions, finishing 35th last year being a big spring goal. INEOS did take the win with Dylan van Baarle however. Luck plays a big role in the cobbles of northern France, but the more Ganna races in the region the more he understands how to race efficiently, and how he can transform himself from a contender to a winner.

“If you compare the Hour, for example, you stay at that range for sixty minutes. At Roubaix, on the other hand, you can recover a little in the bunch, but then on the cobbles, you ride really deep for five minutes," he explains. "It’s really up and down efforts, and that’s different to my characteristics. But we’ll see.”

His effort is comparable to that of Tony Martin in the past, who has tried to translate his pure powerhouse skills into Roubaix. It will be a significant challenge for Ganna to pursuit however one that will keep him fueled to learn and evolve.

“Yes, it’s a dream. But you can’t love Roubaix, because it’s like that. No, you can’t love it. But it’s an amazing race, it’s the history of cycling," he portraits. After Roubaix this spring he will return to the Giro d'Italia where he's achieved so much success in the past.

He tells his schedule of approach to the classics as well: “Algarve, altitude, Tirreno, San Remo, Classics. No Flanders for me because I prefer to stay in Italy to train.” Ganna will race the E3 Saxo Bank, Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen to get a feel of the competition before aiming at Roubaix.