After his stunning solo pursuit to chase down Wout van Aert and break his heart for victory in the final kilometre of Dwars door Vlaanderen, Filippo Ganna confirmed that he does have plans for Easter Sunday, April 5, but that they currently don't include racing the Tour of Flanders.
His next race has always been planned for the pavé of Paris-Roubaix, with the repeated climbs of De Ronde not suiting him as well as the flatter roads of northern France, which are perfect for his characteristics, with a massive engine and the absolute watts to get over the roughest of terrains.
As he sat down for his winner's press conference in Waregem on Wednesday, it didn't take the press long to ask whether plans had indeed changed for Sunday, but Ganna was clear that Roubaix was still supposed to be his next appointment.
"At the moment, Roubaix," he said, before being told that his Ineos Grenadiers directeurs sportifs had indeed hinted that "plans can change."
"I think he needs to call my girlfriend, because she's preparing a fantastic dinner for Easter," responded Ganna. "I've got dinner, and my TV is like 65 inches, so I can sit on the sofa and see the race really well.
"Maybe they change the plans, but yes, if the team asked me to start in Flanders, I'm ready to do it.
"Obviously, with big names like Tadej, Mathieu, and Wout, the podium is really hard to make, but maybe I can be a support for Magnus [Sheffield], who is more of a climber than I am. [But] if I need to work for the guys, I'll work, if the team say, Filippo, you are the leader, I'll be the leader. So I'm open in my mind."
What is certain for the Ineos rider is that after Roubaix, he will have a big break before the start of the Giro d'Italia in Bulgaria. It's just the amount of Monuments and kilometres he's going to race in between then that remains an unknown.
"Today, this victory gave me also good morale, good vibes for the next races," he said. "It could be one, could be two, but then for sure, I know I have one month to relax before the Giro. If it's only one, it's just 280km, if not, it's almost 600km to my holiday."
Ganna has certainly earned it after his incredible ride on Wednesday, bouncing back from some shocking luck in the earlier phases of the race, before he got away with Florian Vermeersch in the final 4km and then produced a chase to remember to ruin Van Aert's day.
"I was a little bit unlucky in the start, hitting one massive hole, and I think I destroyed my front wheel, but I tried to keep fighting, and I changed bike," said Ganna, with a double bike change setting him back at various points before Van Aert attacked away with 40km to go.
"Unfortunately, on the Eikenberg, I also destroyed the handlebars, so I needed to go back to the car to change the bike again. We also had Magnus in the front to try to chase and cover the attacks of the other teams.
"In the end, I found good motivation, good legs to fight in again and try to keep fighting, and it was better like this compared to staying in the bunch and trying to sprint, because I think Wout had amazing legs today, and without my chasing, the bunch wouldn't have taken it."
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