2024 was a season of near misses for Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). In 2025, the Italian is aiming to turn podium places into victories and has his eyes set on Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix.
Second places at the World Championship and Olympic time-trials, as well as a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the Paris Games, have left Ganna hoping for more.
When asked in an interview with La Gazzeta dello Sport which victory he would choose between Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, Ganna simply said: "this is not the time to choose, it's the time to win.”
“This will be the goal for next season, to triumph as much as possible," Ganna added after a season which yielded three victories; stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia, stage four of the Tour of Austria and the Italian national time-trial championships.
The 2024 season equals 2019 as his lowest in terms of wins since joining Ineos Grenadiers. That fact is perhaps not surprising given that 2024 was also the British team’s worst-ever for victories tallied. Ganna would not be drawn on commenting on the team’s woes this year, but expressed his hope that the structural changes made at the team will bring about the desired benefits.
“I hope they bear the fruit they should. I think about pedalling, about expressing myself fully on the bike,” he said.
Having split his time in 2024 between focusing on the track for the Paris Olympics and racing with Ineos Grenadiers, Ganna will be putting his full weight on the road in 2025.
He confirmed that his main goals will be Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix next season, but recognised the challenge ahead in defeating the world’s top riders to those titles.
“I will always have phenomena against me, because Pogacar, Van der Poel, Van Aert, Evenepoel...that's what they are. A fight between titans,” Ganna said.
The 28-year-old finished second behind Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step) at both the World Championships and Olympics time-trials in 2024. He confirmed that he has changed coaches ahead of 2025, now working with Dajo Sanders rather than Dario Cioni, and hopes that he can keep progressing to close the gap to the best riders in the world.
“The good thing, beyond successes and defeats, is that I have always made progress,” he said.
Although focusing on the road for 2025, Ganna did not rule out a future return to the velodrome and hinted at a possible tilt at the track for the World Championships and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Ganna will also continue to use the track for training, saying it helps him to perform specific efforts.
“Track training remains in my program, to do those load volumes that I can't maintain on the road. An extra help and stimulus for the efforts, you could say that."
"Los Angeles 2028... I haven't thought about it yet. Time trial, road, track: there are several possibilities. To be honest, even managing to reach the 10th world championship on the track would be nice.”
“Then, this year I saw Michael Morkov's farewell on the track, in a velodrome, and I got goosebumps. Who knows, one day..."
