After 'intense week,' Filippo Ganna builds confidence for Milan-San Remo

Filippo Ganna has consistently played an important role in Milan-San Remo in recent years and seems ready to shine again in his home classic this year. According to the Italian, he can look back on a successful Tirreno-Adriatico, where he not only won a stage but above all sharpened his form ahead of La Primavera.

With a victory in the opening time trial in Lido di Camaiore, Ganna kicked off Tirreno-Adriatico with a sporting bang. In the following stages, he also made his presence felt prominently. For example, he contested the win in the stage to Martinsicuro and was still in the breakaway on Saturday during the queen stage to Camerino.

"Although it actually wasn’t the plan to be in the day’s break," he said afterwards to the camera of Eurosport. "My role was to neutralize attacks from other riders so my teammates would get the chance to get in the move. But in the end, I ended up in the leading group myself."

Ganna decided to turn it into an intensive training session with Milan-San Remo in mind. "I tried to manage my energy as best as possible, hoping to still be able to work for my teammates in the finale. However, I felt the fatigue in my legs. The last two days were really tough."

‘Wooden’ legs
Still, the hard-tempo rider from Verbania is more than satisfied with his performance on the Tyrrhenian coast. "It was an intense week. Now it’s time to recover. The goal was to perform as well as possible here, which I achieved with the win in the opening time trial. In the last two stages I rode with wooden legs, but everything looks good," is his conclusion.