A series of mechanical and bike issues for Filippo Ganna left the Italian forced to battle back hard to stay in contention in Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, with a broken wheel and subsequent bike change, followed in quick succession by another bike change, with a handlebar that had somehow snapped.
Ganna, one of the co-leaders for Ineos Grenadiers in the mid-week cobbled Classic, was looking perfectly at ease before the double dose of trouble struck.
The Italian star first apparently needed a bike change when his front wheel broke with 47 kilometres to go.
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He fought back from that incident and looked to be in good condition even as racemaker Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was radically upping the pace. However, things then got even more complicated for the 29-year-old.
He was then seen easing up on the right-hand side of the road at 38km to go, waiting once again for his team car. TV images then showed that the right side of the handlebars were broken, and Ganna gestured the issue to the team by wobbling it with his hand.
(Image credit: TNT Sports)
Mechanics rushed to provide Ganna with a replacement bike from the roof rack but the delay was heightened by the prior issues. It was only after 13 kilometres that Ganna was able to get back on for good.
Cyclingnews reached out to Pinarello about Ganna’s handlebar, to which a representative said following the race: “After an initial analysis, the damage appears to have been caused by excessive tightening of the brake lever clamp, leading to failure of the handlebar around the lever clamp.”
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Physically, Ganna was anything but affected by the incidents long-term with the Italian finally claiming the victory that had eluded him for so long in the Belgian Classics by out-sprinting Van Aert in spectacular style at the finish.
In a race run off at a searing average speed of 48.5km, Ganna first drove across to the chasing group led by teammate Magnus Sheffield in pursuit of the Van Aert and the Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets) two-up break at the head of the race. Then after the chasing group reformed, the Italian bridged across to Van Aert in the closing kilometre before blasting home for glory.
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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
