“His fitness certainly seems to be on the rise” - Filippo Ganna’s coach Dario Cioni on the Italian’s form ahead of Milano-Sanremo
Cycling
After a rather underwhelming start to the season for Filippo Ganna, where he has failed to take a victory thus far, the Italian is now looking ahead to the first Monument of the season at Milano-Sanremo this weekend.
The INEOS Grenadiers rider finished second at the race last year behind Mathieu van der Poel, outsprinting Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar on the Via Roma to take the runner-up spot and his best result in a Monument to-date.
However, this year there are question marks over Ganna’s form ahead of Saturday’s race, as his results have been somewhat lacklustre since he began his season in Australia in January. He has even been unusually uncompetitive in the time trials, as he failed to win in both of the two races against the clock that he has done this season, finishing sixth on stage 4 of the Volta ao Algarve and second behind Juan Ayuso on the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico.
According to his coach Dario Cioni though, Ganna’s form is improving, as he said in an interview with Bici.Pro, he said “His fitness certainly seems to be on the rise, because we didn't start this season with the best Ganna. In Tirreno he suffered from the cold for a day, but then we saw the regular Pippo again, who did a series of excellent tests. He was in the breakaway, was at the front for a day and helped his teammates to take the final climb with the leading group, showing that he is in good condition”.
On Ganna’s chances at La Classicissima this weekend, Cioni said “you have to look at who you would attack, but I would say it is much more difficult for him to finish the Poggio alone than in the wheel of the first. If he could have stayed in Van der Poel’s wake last year, things would have been different”.
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- Are you MrMauMau 2.0? Nothing you are saying is really relevant. Vaguely connected, but irrelevant. The conversation is whether Schreiber impeded Brand or not.
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Ganna is a beast 🤯 The Italian fought hard for second place at Milano-Sanremo 2023 as he followed attacks and sprinted hard to the line 🙌 @INEOSGrenadiers @GannaFilippo
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