Filippo Ganna reveals why he gave up on the hour record

The Verbania native explains why he is ‘no’

Fresh from the third place that earned him the bronze medal in the time trial at the European Cycling Championships (which he was not even supposed to compete in, initially), Filippo Ganna took stock of the next big event of the season, but first explained why he gave up, at least for now, one of his most important goals, the hour record attempt.

“I didn’t know how I would come out of the Tour,” the Verbanese champion told official Federciclismo channels, “and in fact I was quite tired. So it was better this way, to give up. Now I’m thinking about recovering, I’ll then be in Germany and to follow in the highlands before Australia where the World title is up for grabs.”

On the European bronze, Ganna added, “I’m happy with myself, I did the best I could. Keep in mind that I haven’t been on a time trial bike since the Tour de France. Now I’m back in the race and I will try to do my best ahead of the world championships.”

On taking over at the last minute, Ganna went on to explain, “Surely on a head level the motivations are different, but as soon as I knew I had to race I tried to do everything as best I could: study the course and find the right concentration. The values were giving feedback in line with expectations, it was lacking a bit of speed and I felt that I could not go as I wanted during my trial.”