INEOS Grenadiers sticks to plan: Filippo Ganna absent from Tour of Flanders

Don’t look for Filippo Ganna today during the Ronde van Vlaanderen finale. The Italian already announced after his victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen that he will not contest the Tour of Flanders this year, and now the door is firmly closed: Ganna is missing from the final selection of his team, INEOS Grenadiers.

With an impressive power effort in the final kilometers, Filippo Ganna still managed to reel in Wout van Aert and claim the 80th edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen. In other words, the Italian seemed ready to shine in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, but Ganna will not play a leading role in the finale of the monumental classic.

For Ganna, everything revolves around his dream race, Paris-Roubaix, and the Tour of Flanders must give way to that. His team leader at INEOS Grenadiers, Elia Viviani, hinted after Dwars door Vlaanderen that ‘plans can change,’ but the British squad and Ganna are sticking to the previously planned build-up towards Roubaix.

Ganna did take part in the Ronde van Vlaanderen last year and finished eighth in Oudenaarde, after winning the sprint from a large first group, more than two minutes behind winner Tadej Pogačar.

Sheffield and Tarling
With Ganna absent, the focus today in the Ronde will be on the strong riders Magnus Sheffield and Joshua Tarling. INEOS Grenadiers is also counting on Sam Welsford, Kim Heiduk, Connor Swift, Samuel Watson, and Artem Shmidt.