Filippo Ganna describes Hour Record pain: "I wanted to fall off just to put an end to the agony"

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.