Filippo Ganna: "It's so painful and hard on your body, but oddly enough every rider wants to ride Paris-Roubaix"

Filippo Ganna has skipped the Tour of Flanders with his eyes in the big goal. The Italian has had a very strong spring and arrives as an outsider for Paris-Roubaix, where his powerhouse build and strong form should see him among the best as was the case in Milano-Sanremo.

“The day after Dwars door Vlaanderen I did a 175 km reconnaissance across all sectors. How did that go? A bit like how the game will go on Sunday: really sucks!” Ganna told L'Équipe. “I don't understand people saying that Roubaix is a fantastic race, because you can't say that. It's fun for the people standing next to the side or watching it on TV, but no one among the riders themselves can say it's a great race. You must be a little crazy. It's so painful and hard on your body, but oddly enough every rider wants to ride Paris-Roubaix. It is a personal motivation for everyone to write their own history.”

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The Italian has raced Roubaix on three occasions, riding to his best result last year with 35th. He was hampered by a badly timed mechanical right before Arenberg and wasn't in contention for the win. However crashes and mechanicals are quite frequent and Ganna faces chances just as high as anyone else of being affected by them.

“If you don't crash, it's pretty easy to get into the front of the race. Roubaix is like having a gun to your head, like in Russian roulette. Every time you pull the trigger, you hope the bullet doesn't come out," he details.

INEOS is yet to reveal their lineup for the race but they are expected to have the likes of Magnus Sheffield and Michal Kwiatkowski as outsiders. “I have great teammates who can help me. They trusted me in Milan-San Remo and I showed that it was not for nothing. I hope they will also see me as the leader for Roubaix. I don't have a crystal ball how it will turn out, but I will fight for every yard, hoping to win. I dream of having that cobblestone in my hands, I'm ready," he concluded.