"Van der Poel also wanted to win, I would have done the same," said Ganna, who attacked with a clear plan

Filippo Ganna almost seemed to launch the perfect attack when, in stage 3 of the Tirreno-Adriatico, he accelerated with 3.6 kilometers to go and stayed ahead of the chasing peloton for a long time. Mathieu van der Poel caught the Italian GC leader, but Andrea Vendrame ultimately won the sprint. Afterward, Ganna analyzed the stage in an interview with IDLProCycling.com, among others.

Ganna spoke during a press conference - dressed warmly in a winter coat and beanie under his INEOS cap - about a 'long and cold day'. The riders had to complete 239 kilometers, and it started to rain as soon as they set off. Throughout the day, we saw riders changing clothes to keep warm, and on the final climb, it became a mad scramble as everyone wanted to warm up by cycling at a fast pace. All the big names tried it at least once, but a sprint of a depleted group could not be prevented.

"The weather was terrible, and no one wanted to keep up with our pace. So it was difficult to stay warm," Ganna said in a critical tone. And so it went for hours leisurely until the final climb came into view, and two riders were still ahead. "I have to thank my teammates who rode all day. On the final climb, I asked Van der Poel if his team would be willing to help, and they did. I must thank them because other teams didn't do it."

Read more below the photo.

Ganna attacked, but Van der Poel caught up with him

Ganna attacked on (too) early; Van der Poel caught him

After the INEOS team called it a day and Laurens De Plus, with his ambitions for the GC, could not keep up the pace, Ganna attacked. "Maybe it was too early, but I didn't want Laurens to take risks for me and pick up the pace. I didn't wait for the sprint, even though I knew I was taking a risk. Van der Poel was strong in the final and closed the gap. It's not surprising because he also wanted to win. I could understand that I would have done the same thing."

Ganna's attack was thus motivated by a lack of workforce at INEOS, but it was also a good test for Milan-Sanremo. "I wanted to test myself after 6.5 hours of racing and see how my metrics were. It was a good test for the classics, which are long races. I'm disappointed I couldn't give my teammates a stage win, but my legs did feel good. Maybe I'll try again because going for the GC will be too tough anyway."

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])     

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