Filippo Ganna completed a five-hour Paris-Roubaix reconnaissance and final training ride on Wednesday, rediscovering the beauty and the pain of the French pavé.
The Italian rode with Ben Turner and Connor Swift, who will help him take on Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen and Wout Van Aert on Sunday.
Under the watchful eye of his coach Dajo Sanders, directeur sportif Ian Stannard on a scooter and L'Equipe journalist Alex Roos, Ganna rode the final 165km of the 259.2km route, so all of the 30 sectors and the 50km of cobbles.
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Roos compared Ganna to a "half-awake Popeye".
"He's like a ship's figurehead lying flat on his bike, with his wrist lowered as he breathes in gulps of fresh air," Roos wrote.
"He's the one you could put a spirit level on his back, with the bubble in the centre, he's flat as an ironing board."
Sanders was more focused on the training.
"The session was about restarting the engine after the Tour of Flanders with intensity but without doing too much," Sanders explained
Sanders selected five demanding sectors where Ganna made five explosive efforts. Stannard provided the motor pacing to recreate the race speeds on the cobbles. Roos described how Ganna dived into the cobbles at speed as if on the attack, touching speeds of over 50km/h.
"It was pretty tough, I soon remembered what the pave is like, Paris-Roubaix is like being in a washing machine," Ganna told L'Equipe, speaking metaphorically but perhaps more literally than we may think.
"My arms hurt the most due to the vibrations because it's a part of the body we don't use very much. Fortunately, my legs are good."
"Paris-Roubaix is painful, but one of those pains that makes you want to come back every time to do better and better," Ganna told Tuttobici in a separate interview.
"You never know how you come out of it. It's a beautiful race to watch but not to ride, you have to hurt yourself to say you like to race it. You do it because of the history and because it's beautiful to have it on your palmares."
Ganna won the under-23 Paris-Roubaix in 2016 when just 19 years old, attacking alone in the final kilometres. He then finished outside the time limit on his professional debut in 2018. He was 35th in 2022, sixth in 2023 but was absent in 2024 as he focused on the Olympics and avoided the risk of the cobbles.
Ineos Grenadiers have worked hard to shake off their poor results of 2024 and Ganna has assumed team leadership for the 2025 spring campaign. He spent much of the winter in Spain to avoid training in the cold and rain of his home in northern Italy and the illness that disrupted his 2024 winter.
He is lighter and stronger than ever, using his huge power and aerobic ability to limit his losses on the mountain finish at Tirreno-Adriatico and so finish second overall.
He impressed at Milan-San Remo as he fought to stay in touch with Pogačar and van der Poel and then finished second in the Via Roma. He was third at the E3 Saxo Classic and then eighth at the Tour of Flanders after trying to anticipate Pogačar's shakeout on the Oude Kwaremont. He suffered on the key Flemish climbs when Pogačar launched his multiple attacks but showed his determination and speed by winning the chase group sprint.
Milan-San Remo was one of two major goals for the 2025 spring. Paris-Roubaix is the second, which arguably suits him much more and so where has a better chance of victory.
"I've never prepared for Roubaix as I have this year," Ganna explained.
L'Equipe asked if Ganna is in the best form of his career.
"Ask my coach," Ganna replied. "I'd say so," was Sanders modest affirmation.
"It'd be great to repeat my Under 23 win and take home the precious cobbled stone trophy. I'm tired of finishing second or third, I'd like to win sometime too," Ganna said after four Classic Monument top-tens in the last two years.
