Five-time World Champion, three-time individual pursuit world record holder and star of one of the most exciting breakaways of last year’s Giro—Filippo Ganna has certainly made his name known in his short twenty-four years on earth. And while the 2020 season may have been one of the most unusual in any fan’s recent memory, it marked the most memorable of this young Italian’s burgeoning pro cycling career. Claiming victory as a national time-trial winner as well as earning distinction as the first Italian elite men’s time trial World Champion, riding alongside fellow INEOS Grenadiers, Ganna went on to repeatedly don the Maglia Rosa throughout the Giro d’Italia, following each of his four stage wins.
But victory doesn’t come cheap, with countless hours of discipline and hard work required to produce the watts needed to smash records and win World Championships. Recently back from high-elevation training with team INEOS, Filippo joined the Italian national cycling team for laps at the local velodrome, and we tagged along to witness a typical day in the run-up to this summer’s big races, including Ganna’s much anticipated return to the fast-approaching Giro d’Italia and the Tokyo Olympic Games later this summer.
Of course, the first step in any successful day on the saddle starts with dialling in the right set up. Guided by the experience of the team’s mechanic, Ganna’s bike is fine-tuned and adjusted for the best fit for lap after lap around the track. After all, when milliseconds matter, millimetres can make all the difference.
With his bike ready, Filippo steps onto the track, mounts his Pinarello – a work of art worthy of its own place on the podium – and starts to move. Spinning slowly at first, in a way that mimics his atypical approach to racing, he steadily gains speed until he’s little more than a blur, buzzing by with dizzying velocity. Tucking in with his team, they take turns in various positions on the paceline, lap after lap, as together they prepare for the team pursuit. But Ganna has more pressing matters on his mind as he splits off from the others, perfecting his form and building strength to hopefully, once again, come out ahead of the clock during this Giro’s two time trails—while ideally racking up plenty more stage wins along the way. After track laps, Ganna next heads to the gym to build strength through less–lightning-fast–means.
Finally, having completed his workout both on and off the saddle, it’s time for the three R’s of fitness: rest, refuel and repeat. Filippo will be back at it tomorrow, knowing that whether it comes to training on the track for Tokyo, racing the Giro with fellow INEOS Grenadiers or aiming to beat his own world record in the individual pursuit, to outpace the competition, he’ll have to work harder, go further and ride faster—even when that competition comes from within.
Be sure to tune in to watch Filippo Ganna in what promises to be an explosive opening stage of the 2021 Giro d’Italia this weekend, and follow along as Filippo, Egan Bernal, Pavel Sivakov and every member of team INEOS Grenadiers take on Italy’s grandest Tour.
As the road season gathers momentum, established and emerging fizik riders are finding superb early season performances around the globe – here are the brief highlights from the weekend. COLOMBIAN CLIMBERS With exciting ‘home’ riders and support from their European team-mates, the Tour Colombia provided a thrilling spectacle. It culminated in a Colombian 1-2 thanks to a solo final mountain stage win for Movistar Team’s Nairo Quintana eight seconds up the road from Team Sky’s Ivan Sosa. The 21-year-old missed out on GC victory by just 4 seconds but won the mountains classification and ignited the crowds alongside his 22-year-old team-mate Egan Bernal. RAINBOW STRIPES STEPS UP In Spain, at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia Costa Cálida, it was a smiling Alejandro Valverde who took to the second step of the podium both for the second stage and for the Overall. The 38-year-old World Champion broke away from the lead group with 15km to go on the Vuelta Murcia’s second and final stage, along with his 35-year-old compatriot Luis Leon Sanchez. El Bala went solo from the top of the final climb but was reeled in by his friend and rival – the old adversaries embracing after crossing the finish line. PROVENÇAL PERFORMANCES The four-stage Tour de La Provence was a happy hunting ground for both the most experienced hands, and the young riders. Team Sky’s new 22-year-old Italian signing Filippo Ganna used his track experience to take the opening time trial – before handing over to Movistar Team’s Spanish new recruit Eduard Prades who won Stage 2’s sprint from AG2R-La Mondial’s Tony Gallopin. Stage 3 went to the 36-year-old Belgian former World Champion Philippe Gilbert, outsprinting the group on France’s famous Paul Ricard motor racing circuit. And on the fourth and final stage in Aix-en-Provence it was Gallopin who wrote his own headlines: earning a one-second bonus on the first intermediate sprint meant that his Stage 1 TT effort was enough to claim a GC podium by just 13 hundredths of a second, and second in the Points competition.
