Filippo Ganna describes Hour Record pain: "I wanted to fall off just to put an end to the agony"
Cycling
After a long and mixed road season, Filippo Ganna returned to the track to finish off 2022, with a new Hour Record success and also a World title in the Track World Championships. He's talked about his effort on that one day that has been the highlight of his 2022 season.
“For the first half hour, you don’t think of anything, the next 15 minutes you’re thinking about how you can do something big and the last 15 minutes I wanted to fall off just to put an end to the agony," Ganna said in an interview with El País. Ganna is currently together with INEOS Grenadiers in Nice for a pre-season camp, but has recollected memories from his Hour Record ride.
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“I wanted to puncture, anything, and finish the bid there and then. I just couldn’t go on," he continued. However the effort was worth it, as he set a new record of 56.792 kilometres in an hour, over 1 whole kilometer ahead of the previous time set by his own performance engineer Dan Bigham.
Ganna revealed the tension that led up to his attempt: "Two hours before racing starts, your hands go cold, then they get sweaty, then they’re cold again. You’re tearful, your face turns pale. The most stressful moments are the 50 seconds when you’re looking at the board with the countdown. So you try to hide that stress behind some glasses.”
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Ganna, who had a disappointing Tour de France, European and World Championships, had the Hour Record as his highlight of 2022. "Being in a good place mentally helps you out when you’re not in great shape. At that point, 70 percent of racing comes down to your head. In the Tour I was at that ‘70 percent’ for all 21 days," he revealed. "My only goal was to survival and to get to Paris. I’d help where I could, but this year in the Tour I suffered a lot.”
The off-season is now upon most of the peloton, and it will be time for Ganna to evaluate his main goals for the 2023 season, with the Tour de France presentation this Thursday being an important step.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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