'I had a bit of bad luck all day' - Ganna overcomes broken handlebars to claim first Flemish Classic

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) described how he managed to recover from breaking his handlebars at a key moment to claim his first Flemish Classic at Dwars door Vlaanderen, after passing Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) with around 100 metres to the finish.

It was a dramatic catch, just metres from the finish line, and Ganna credited the strong performance of Van Aert, who managed to hold on to second place ahead of the charging peloton.

“Wout delivered an impressive performance,” Ganna said in his post-race interview. “It wasn’t easy to catch him, but I had the legs to push through to the finish line. For me, this is a great victory.”

On the run-in to the Eikenberg, with 47km remaining, Ganna suffered an untimely mechanical issue, which meant he had to make a swift bike change. When Van Aert made his decisive move on the Eikenberg a few kilometres later, Ganna once more had problems with his bike.

“I had a bit of bad luck all day,” said Ganna. “In the first part, after the first climb, I broke my front wheel. I had to change bikes for the first time. Then I broke my handlebars,” explained the Italian.

“After that, we controlled the race because we had Magnus [Sheffield] at the front. I was already feeling good at Gent-Wevelgem. I helped the team there, and now the team did a brilliant job for me. I wanted to give something back to them with this victory.”

Ganna was asked when he thought he could close the gap, but the Italian admitted that he also thought he could be caught from behind.

“Perhaps only in the final bend. The group behind me was riding really fast, so I thought they might still catch me. But I’m really happy now. This will also give the team a real boost for the upcoming races.”

It’s a victory and performance that will give Ganna and Ineos a massive boost of confidence ahead of Paris-Roubaix, where he will hope to contend for victory.