Filippo Ganna warms up for ambitious season in Etoile de Bessèges
CyclingThursday, 03 February 2022 at 11:25
The time-trial World Champion is currently in southern France getting his first racing kilometers of the season in the Etoile de Bessèges, where he already showed great legs on the opening day.
Over the last couple of seasons Filippo Ganna has had very similar goals and has succeeded in them perfectly. In both 2020 and 2021 he became world champion in the individual discipline and it's likely that he's going to try going for the hat-trick, but that isn't necessarily the first thing on his mind.
"I’ve been waiting for this moment since finishing January training camp and you always hope to arrive at the first race with good legs. The goals for this season are really clear for me, the first part is the Classics. These are always big races, you have to arrive so focussed with the goals clear in your mind. There are some big goals for this season, San Remo will be a big race for us, but that’s just one of many, but for the time being I prefer to keep them to myself, I don’t want to give it all away."
He has also supported both Tao Geogheghan Hart and Egan Bernal to their Giro d'Italia glory, whilst at the same time netting a total of six stage wins for himself, it is quite hard to imagine how he could've improved. His goal won't be to improve on those in 2022 though, as he's targeting a different set of goals.
Filippo Ganna at the start of Etoile de Bessèges
Although not confirmed, the Italian is expected to be a the startline in Copenhagen for the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, where he has good chances of putting on the first yellow jersey of the race. Before that though he has big ambitions, as he is set to do a set of stage-races in preparation for his big early-season goals which will be Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix.
"In 2021 we did well as a team, but when you start a new year you always hope that you’re going to do better, which is never easy but we are such a good team. The one thing you hope for is to kick the year off with some good results early, then it sets the tone, some early celebrations are always useful to get the motivation soaring."
Ganna finished 7th on the crosswind-swept opening day of the Etoile de Bessèges after a strong performance protecting Richard Carapaz. Although it is unlikely that he will be one of the main contenders for the GC, he is never to be discounted as the race finishes off with a 11 kilometers long time-trial in Alès.
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- Froome is less than 2 millions now since his team is no more in WT. All sources for Roglic say it is between 4 and 4.5 millions, not 5.5. Evenepoel is now 5 millions, so more than these two. Poor researches here.Acapulco08-11-2024
- wow, you’re like a REALLY angry little fella, aren’t you? these discussions are supposed to be FUN, brother. if you find them this upsetting you should MAYYYYBE go for a walk, or get some tropical fish to look at or something. beyond my concern for your emotional well being, i gotta say i don’t understand a few things you tried to say. your point about van der poel at liege? i don’t get it. and exactly who are the “you people” who are persecuting you over pogacar’s walk-over at the giro. anyway, good luck with everything.OCexile08-11-2024
- Lefevere is such a clown.Sweep08-11-2024
- You're spewing nonsense. MVDP was at Liege too. Jonas did his best ever numbers in the Tour, as did Evenepoel. In the worlds, MVDP wasn't the only one chasing and a large part of the route was flat. Oh, did you forget that Pogi soloed 80 ks? What about the 80ks at Strade Bianche? The training ride at the Lombardia? And man, I can't stand how dismissive you people are of his Giro dominance. "There wasn't anyone around to challenge him" yeah well whenever a cyclist wins it's because there was no one else around who would be good enough. I'm sick of this imaginary opponents argument. Who was supposed to be there to challenge him anyways? Do you think Roglic or Evenepoel could do anything? Or Vingegaard, who always trains to peak for the Tour?Ayrton08-11-2024
- What a great ride that day, and what a great young rider. I am really looking forward to what he'll do next, and his attitude about racing is great. Let's hope he keeps that.RidesHills08-11-2024
- everyone should TRY to remember that just a year ago it was pascal the couldn’t remotely hang with vingegaard at the tour. the explanation for that was that pog had injured his wrist and that had interfered with his preparation. compare what a damaged wrist would do to your prep vs. what happened to vingegaard. i think a 100% healthy pogacar vs. a 100% healthy vingegaard at the tour is just about even money. hopefully that’s what we’ll get.OCexile08-11-2024
- i still believe that a thoroughly healthy jonas is at least a match for pogačar. i think some of tadej’s new aura of crushing invincibility comes from a year when everything lined up for him just right. to be clear, i’m NOT saying he’s not the most gifted rider on the planet! he IS! but… liége is made for him; there was NOBODY at the giro to challenge; jonas, for all his spirit, was broken and a shell of his true self at the tour. the Worlds course was a perfect fit for this year for pog, where slimmed down but still MUCH bigger van der poel still kept the gap under a minute in a course that REALLY didn’t suit HIM. my point is that i actually don’t think tadej suddenly launched himself to a level of ability far, far above where he’d been before. he’s a great rider that had an historically great year, but i don’t believe he’s become something NEW, and UNBEATABLE. if he’s fully healthy, i really expect jonas to be as much of a handful for pog as pog is for him.OCexile08-11-2024
- seriously, ESPECIALLY when paired with each other. when they put bob with phil, it’s like bob KNOWS he needs to tighten everything up because phil (god bless him) is losing his marbles. bob is actually pretty GOOD when he’s on phil duty. and when they took vande velde OUT of the booth with bob an put him on the back of a motorcycle, he was suddenly smart and edgy again. put those two guys TOGETHER though, and bob suddenly becomes the dumbest, sloppiest, most ill-informed pogacar and van aert fanboy on the planet, unleashing a constant stream of dim-witted, chuckling hyperbole, and christian is his enabling toady. yuk. after GCN folded i had to listen to wayyyy to much of their “dumb and dumber” show. they must be separated forever.OCexile08-11-2024
- Good news. Cycling world at least doesn't have rampant racism. But, I think it is partly because it is hard to dislike Biniam. He seems like a jolly good person even though he's a sprinter. Some sprinters are very aggressive/cocky.
KerisVroom08-11-2024 - Good news. Cycling world at least doesn't have rampant racism. But, I think it is partly because it is hard to dislike Biniam. He seems like a jolly good person even though he's a sprinter. Some sprinters are very aggressive/cocky.KerisVroom08-11-2024