Paris-Roubaix, Van Baarle: “Crazy victory”. Ganna: “I saved my skin”

by our correspondent Ciro Scognamiglio

April 17
– Roubaix (France)

Filippo Ganna stretched out on the lawn as soon as that enormous effort called Paris-Roubaix ended, then went to look for his partner Dylan van Baarle to congratulate him. The 25-year-old Piedmontese from Ineos-Grenadiers was in his third participation from pro to the Queen of the Classics, won in 2016 by the Under 23: after an over time and a retirement, today’s performance confirms that he has entered a different dimension, and we need to go further 35th place at 4’47 ”to understand it. Here are his words: “We had to do a race like that and we did it, on the attack. Dylan was great. For me a bit of bad luck: after the second sector I had already had a laundry, and after the fourth I had a mechanical problem, a chain jump. So I had to chase. ” In Arenberg he had tried with Kung: “But I paid the two sforzoni to return. My budget? I don’t know how far I got there, but I saved my skin and this is already important”. His face bears the signs of dust, of commitment: “Hard, a lot of effort, but the important thing was to triumph and we did it with Dylan. It was a great goal and it finally ended up in our roll of honor”. Once more the post-Milan Sanremo trend was confirmed: Ineos-Grenadiers had had a shadowy start to the season, especially compared to Uae-Emirates and Jumbo-Visma but in the last month or so “the Empire” is back to the ancient splendor, between placings and prestigious successes.

NUMBERS

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There is no doubt that this is the most important victory of Van Baarle’s career, that in terms of heavy second places it was not only the one at Flanders two weeks ago that counted: it was in fact silver at the last World Cup won by Alaphilippe. While at Roubaix he had never achieved significant results (unlike Flanders, 4 times in the top-10): indeed in 2021, on the day of glory for Sonny Colbrelli, he had even finished out of time. Attention: his contract with Ineos-Grenadiers is about to expire and both UAE-Emirates and Jumbo-Visma are interested in him. So he expressed his joy: “When I entered the Velodrome I couldn’t believe it. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming, but I was all alone. It was crazy. This is a Monument, obviously I wanted to win one. words. At one point I also had a puncture, but we all had something wrong and I remained calm. “

trentin

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A puncture, yes, the one that got rid of a rather competitive Matteo Trentin, to go back to Italy. “I got a puncture, yes. I was right behind Van Baarle who then won … Unfortunately it was a piece full of curves, it was impossible. I did the first and almost killed myself. The chain went down to Arenberg, I was after the fifteenth car but I managed to get back in. From there, I ran very well. I tried to refuel myself to do something … You say that it was Paris-Roubaix in which I went faster? It may be, but the result is been the same as always “. The best Italian at the finish line was Andrea Pasqualon, 19th, who made his debut in the Hell of the North at the age of 34. “And I want to go back. Because it’s a splendid race”.