March 18, 2023
The Italian rider impressed many with his performance, but was left disappointed after the race
The rueful shake of the head when he crossed the finish line gave it away and Filippo Ganna didn’t hide it in his post-race interviews either: the Italian rider wanted more from Milan-Sanremo. It’s a quality of an athlete of his talent that while everyone else is talking about how surprisingly impressive Ganna’s performance was, he was left feeling as if he had lost the chance of taking the biggest road victory of his career when he was close enough to touch it.
“I’m a little bit disappointed, I think everyone is with second place,” he said after the race. “It’s the first of the losers. Now I’m disappointed but maybe tomorrow I’ll realise I arrived second in Sanremo.”
While the Italian rider might not have had time to reflect on the positive aspects of his performance so soon after an adrenaline-filled finish, it’s undeniable that his result has signified a clear step forward in his one-day racing prowess. Ganna proved he was climbing well during the recent edition of Tirreno-Adriatico and cemented that today as he sat tight on two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar’s wheel on the Poggio, despite carrying at least an additional ten kilogrammes of weight compared to the Slovenian.
When Mathieu van der Poel launched his winning move, Ganna was behind Pogačar who was unable to close the gap, likely spent from his earlier attack on the climb. Perhaps if Ganna had been on the wheel of Van der Poel instead, he would have been able to follow the Dutch rider, but in just a few seconds the gap had been created and it was too late. Maybe that is the moment that Ganna was thinking back to as he crossed the finish line so visibly disappointed.
Image: RCS/Pool
However, it could be argued that there was more that Ganna could have done in the run-in to the finish line to drag himself back into contention for victory. As he chased Van der Poel alongside Pogačar and Wout van Aert, the Italian rider was pulling short and sharp turns, seemingly not wanting to contribute to a coherent chase. Cracks began to show in the Italian’s armoury on the descent of the Poggio, too: he was letting gaps open on the hairpin bends and repeatedly had to chase hard to get back onto the wheel of Van Aert.
No one will ever know how it might have changed things if Ganna…