'It's never a given' - Ganna steeled for another Sanremo showdown with Pogacar and Van der Poel

In generations past, the Milan-Sanremo peloton contained an array of potential winners from the host nation. This year, like last, Italian hopes rest squarely on the shoulders of one man.

When Jonathan Milan was ruled out by illness earlier this week, it was telling that the development scarcely made a ripple in the Italian newspapers. In the Pogacar era, the pure sprinters have little say at the modern Milan-Sanremo.

After placing second in 2023 and again last year, Filippo Ganna is once more the only viable Italian contender to win on the Via Roma. Indeed, that’s been the case for some time. Since Vincenzo Nibali scored Italy’s last win in 2018, only four Italian riders have even made the top ten in Sanremo: Nibali and Matteo Trentin in 2019, Sonny Colbrelli in 2021, and Ganna in 2023 and 2025.

Ganna’s Milan-Sanremo debut coincided with Nibali’s 2018 victory, which itself ended a twelve-year drought for Italy. He was a second-year pro with UAE Team Emirates, and neither the team nor the rider were the powerhouses they are today. A callow Ganna endured what he described as “maybe the worst day of my sporting life” to reach the Via Roma more than 16 minutes down on Nibali.

“Like always, I’d just come in from Tirreno-Adriatico, where, if I remember well, I had crashed,” Ganna told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I’d broken a bone in my wrist, but it didn’t come up in the x-rays. My hand was hurting me… The final result: 161st and fourth from last. But from that moment, it’s been nice to see the improvements year after year. I’ve matured physically and mentally, pushing my body to higher standards.”

Ganna first gave notice of his Milan-Sanremo potential in 2021, with a long stint of pace-making on the Poggio in support of then-teammate Tom Pidcock. Ineos’ deployment of Ganna was the subject of stinging Italian criticism after the race, with the riders himself feeling compelled to defend his team via social media the following day.

By 2023, Ganna’s place in the hierarchy was altogether clearer, and he began to deliver on his Primavera promise with second place behind Mathieu van der Poel after being the first man to respond to Pogacar’s vicious acceleration on the Poggio.

Last year, Ganna again placed second behind Van der Poel, this time after the most high-octane edition of the race in recent memory. Pogacar sparked the winning move on the Cipressa, where Ganna was dropped after initially following. He latched back on before the Poggio, hung in as long as he could, and then bridged back up to the Big Two once more in the streets of Sanremo.

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport published on Thursday, Ganna outlined that the Cipressa has now replaced the Poggio as the most stressful point on the Milan-Sanremo course. After last year’s surprise attack from Pogacar, the entire gruppo is braced for another long-range offensive from the world champion on the Cipressa on Saturday.

“Last year, I wasn’t expecting Pogacar’s acceleration and when he attacked, it was intense, let’s put it that way,” Ganna said. “But somehow, I managed to hold onto him and Mathieu van der Poel. It was one of the biggest efforts of my life. Fortunately, as a time triallist, I don’t suffer too much at a regular pace. The eventual second place hurt, but I’ll always have the photo beside two champions.”

Still, simply being in the picture is no longer quite enough for a rider who is seeking the first Monument win of his career. “I want to write history,” said Ganna, who confessed to regrets about each of his second places behind Van der Poel.

“In 2023, I didn’t have the courage to follow Van der Poel on the Poggio. I thought that Pogacar could close him down, but it didn’t go like that. And last year, I could have played it differently in the sprint. But the worst was in 2024, with the puncture and mechanical on the descent of the Poggio that took me out of it.”

While Ganna is the man most likely to contest the win with the two favourites on Saturday, his pathway to victory against them is not obvious. “There’s no ideal scenario. Sanremo is a puzzle where you have to fit all the pieces together, a unique conundrum because it doesn’t have just one solution,” said Ganna. He acknowledged, however, that his hopes would suffer a blow if Pogacar manages to drop Van der Poel on the Cipressa.

“I hope not! That would be bad news for me. If he drops him, I reckon we won’t see Tadej again until the finish. Mathieu is one of the few who can keep him in check or at least keep him under control. But it’s never a given. Things can turn out differently every time. I hope I have to chase him less than in 2025…”