Ganna, gold and world record “And I wanted to go on vacation”

Cycling: great feat in pursuit of the World Championships on the track

the character

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES

An unprecedented undertaking. Unattainable. Yes, because it had never happened in cycling that a rider beat, indeed broke the hour record, and six days later won the world championship in pursuit with the world record, a lunar 3’59 ”636. It is the fifth world championship jersey, torn by overtaking Jonathan Milan, teammate, perfect mirror of the health of our moment in the sector in the final. All this, and much more, is Filippo Ganna. Much more, and among this the magic word that makes a name for itself. Thursday after the team silver medal, a half defeat for the “Fab 4” Olympic champions, the champion from Verbania criticized himself: «The preparation for the record and the chase were too different, in the end I paid off». Then a grimace when we asked him if he would run the next day. “No come on…”.

And here comes the character and encouragement of teammates and the coach Marco Villa. «They encouraged me to try and I managed to beat a great opponent. We said to each other at the start: now let’s do it badly, then friends as before. Milan is 22 years old, it is the future of the chase. It went well, and to say I wanted to go on vacation, ”he says. The masterpiece started from the qualification: 25 riders in the race, the first two times will be played in the evening for gold. The British Bigham, Ganna’s forerunner at the Ineos for the hour, prints a 4’05 ”181. Pippo, the one “a little tired”, to put it in Gamp’s way, starts slowly, then it is legendary: a composed, powerful missile. The audience at the velodrome goes crazy for him, and the French understand: 4’00 “693, thrilling with the four-minute wall, one of Pippo’s long-standing goals, the Pillars of Hercules of the specialty, close at hand. beyond those columns, only the American Ashton Lambie, absent here, succeeded. But Milan is a tough Friulian, he comes from Buja, a village reborn from the 1976 earthquake, he leaves last with his back to the wall and a friend-rival who perhaps does not Jonny, Saturday in Grenchen after the Ganna Hour Records, is that cuirassier with the face of a child who hands out the sparkling wine for the party as soon as Pippo gets off the bike. Fly: 4’03 “012. Final, very derbissimo in the specialty that belonged to Coppi and Moser. Chills. The athlete from Bahrain Victorious is not satisfied, starts strong, then gives up after half the race. Pippo is loaded with strong music by DJ Thomas and is a quiet and polite type at least until he feels targeted by critics for one of the rare defeats. In short, this Italian vice Top Ganna just can’t stand it.

But he found a shoulder, unexpected and wonderful: the Lazio coach, Maurizio Sarri. “Ganna did an epochal feat and the media snubbed him,” he said in a nutshell. He who knows what he will say now. W Ganna, w the track that the Italbici clings to in anticipation of better times even on the road. –

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