Filippo Ganna completed a final reconnaissance ride of the Zurich World Championships time trial course on Saturday afternoon but it did little to boost his end-of-season morale. The Italian is a two-time time trial World Champion but seemed resigned to defeat, expecting Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) to defend his 2023 title.
Ganna will perhaps fight for a medal, against Primož Roglič (Slovenian), Josh Tarling (Great Britain) and Stefan Küng (Switzerland) but is not at his best after a significant dip in form and morale after the Paris Olympics.
"There's only one favourite and we'll see how much time he beats us by," Ganna said of Evenepoel with his usual deadpan realism, to a small group of Italian media and Cyclingnews.
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Ganna recently stayed at altitude and trained on the track in the hope of finding an end-of-season peak and a moment of national pride while racing for Italy. He targeted both the time trial and the team pursuit in Paris, winning a silver medal behind Evenepoel on the roads of Paris and a bronze on the track but had hoped for at least one gold medal.
He tried to respect his agreed Ineos Grenadiers August race programme and rode the Deutschland Tour but then quit the Renewi Tour after one stage due to fatigue.
"I've had some high and lows since the Olympics. I had two options: call it quits until 2025 or try to do something here," Ganna said.
"I've tried to do something, to find some form and to race the worlds. We'll find out if it was worth it very soon. I feel good, the sun is out, morale is high. I don't want to look back, I want to look forward to the final efforts of the season."
Ganna was one of the last riders to complete his recon ride of the rolling Zurich 46.1km course. Every rider wanted to see the steep mid-race descent through the trees that leads towards the shores of Lake Zurich. Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws described it as diving into a black hole. Whoever has the courage to take risks there could gain vital seconds.
"It's a tough course, so it'll be important to pace your ride," Ganna explained. "The opening kilometres are flat and fast, where the time trial specialists can perform well. The climb will hurt the legs and maybe the descent is a little dangerous but it's the same for everyone.
"They've cleaned the approach to the descent. Perhaps it wasn't a great idea to include it but it's the same for everyone. I'm just happy to have disc brakes."
Ganna will also ride the Mixed Relay event on Wednesday but not next Sunday's road race. He will race for Ineos Grenadiers in early October at the six-day Cro Race in Croatia, then end his 2204 season on home roads at Gran Piemonte on October 10.
He ruled out riding the track world championships in Denmark later in October.
"I'll be watching from the stands with a beer in my hand…" Ganna said with a smile, ready to bring down the curtain on a long and intense season that began back in Australia at the Tour Down Under and will include close to 70 days of road racing.
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