Filippo Ganna: “Don’t know why people see me as a favourite” | Paris-Roubaix

At more than 1m90 and weighing more than 80 kilograms, Filippo Ganna is physically perfectly equipped to digest the infernal cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix. He proved that by winning the classic in 2016 with the promises.

Many people therefore see the Italian of Ineos-Grenadiers as a top favorite for Sunday. The down-to-earth Ganna himself remained very modest at his press moment. “We have a strong team, but we will see on Sunday whether I am one of the favourites.”

“I don’t know why people think I’m a favourite. I’ve already driven Roubaix twice (with the pros). Once I arrived outside time. Once I got into the car after two cobbled sections.”

“Those are not pleasant experiences. I hope to be more at the front now. A lot of Italians have won this race and I hope to be there one day, but it is not easy. After some problems with my stomach I feel better.”

“My body is mainly built for time trials, but now I just have to try to do a time trial of about 260km,” Ganna concluded with a smile.

If Ganna can’t keep up his “time trial” long enough, Ineos-Grenadiers has plenty of other irons in the fire. Magnus Sheffield just won the Brabantse Pijl, Dylan van Baarle and Ben Turner are riding a strong spring and Michal Kwiatkowski shines after his victory in the Amstel Gold Race.

“I like to ride like there is no tomorrow,” said Kwiatkowski. “It’s fun to play all or nothing. With stage races you often have to think about the ride of the next day.”

“I will start from scratch on Sunday, I think. Only last year I already drove Paris-Roubaix, but that was in completely different circumstances (it was soaking wet). I have already ridden other cobblestone races and I always had a good feeling about that , but Roubaix is ​​like nothing else.”

“Why didn’t I compete in this race? You have to make choices. A body has its limits. This year I was able to try something new because the calendar has been adjusted due to the elections in France. Otherwise it was difficult to combine with the Ardennes classics.”

With his victory in the Amstel Gold Race under his belt, the former world champion has nothing to do with it. Everything is allowed.

“When I look at the quality of this team, you have to have confidence. We have nothing to fear. There are a lot of favourites, but we want to keep our momentum and use it to hopefully win.”