Filippo Ganna warms up for ambitious season in Etoile de Bessèges

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.

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.