Good experience for Ganna in the TT

The epilogue of the Tirreno-Adriatico was the traditional time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto.

The 10,9 km of the course were covered by Filippo Ganna (photo Bettini), the most awaited cyclist for UAE Team Emirates, in 11’50”, a performance which gave to the young Italian rider the 28th place.
The time trial was won by Dennis in 11’18”.

The riders covered to long straights, almost 5 km each, and a U turn connecting them, so the speed was very high and only some bumps forced the athletes to brake.

“Today I lived a new experience, it was unusual for me racing a time trial after a stages race, so the approach was different from what I did in the past – Ganna explained – I received a very good support by the team, by the training staff and the sports directors, everything was perfect for my debut.
I’m fairly satisfied, I gave my best, I could consider this time trial as a good experience for building a satisfying path in the time trials“.

For what concerns the evaluation of the performances of UAE Team Emirates in the Tirreno-Adriatico, it’s important to underline that ambitions of the team for the Tirreno-Adriatico were limited by the cold which forced Rui Costa to train in a light way for a couple of days before the race.

For aiming to compete for the general classification (he obtained the final 18th place, at 3’28” from the winner Quintana), considering the high level of the starting list, a perfect form was necessary, however Rui Costa tried to recover energies and comeptitiveness in the first three stages and he tried to seize his condition on the summit arrival of Terminillo and in the hilly stage of Fermo, when he also tried an attack.
The Portuguese rider did not achieve a top result, however he was in the front positions until when the GC contenders opened the hard battle for the victory.

“I was aware that at Tirreno–Adriatico the situation would have been different from the one at the Abu Dhabi Tour and the cold made the things even more difficult – Rui Costa said – I did not worry, I tried as usual to do my best, I wanted to see how comeptitive I could have been, considering Tirreno–Adriatico as a passage in view of the Ardenne Classics and of my first participation in the Giro d‘Italia.

Maybe I could have been luckier when I attacked on the “muro” of Fermo, the steephill where I went clear from the top riders group at 25 km from the arrival of the 5th stage, however the opponents reacted and neutralized my action.

In the next weeks I‘ll perform altitude training, I feel it will be an important period for tuning my form in view of the Ardenne Classics”.

Sacha Modolo exploited the two stages suitable for the sprinters and the other stages as they were intense training in view of the Milano-Sanremo: “The courses of the Tirreno–Adriatico are perfect for improving the form in view of the Milano–Sanremo. I was 4th in the stage with arrival in Montalto di Castro and I had a damaged wheel in Civitanova Marche: without some small errors in my sprint and I bit of luck, I could have obtained more”.

Sports director Marco Marzano, who led the team together with the colleague Maini, completed the evaluation about the performances of the team: “Considering the illness of Rui at the eve of the race, it was difficult to aim for a place in the top 10 of the general classification, especially because there were many high level contenders.
However, the team mates tried to gave Rui the best possible support, starting in the team time trial, where we tried to exploit the impressive skills of Ganna, who debut in a World Tour stages race.

In the two most demanding stages, Rui succeeded in limiting the gap from the opponents, we feel he did his best.

The last interesting moment for the team was the individual time trial, in which Ganna had the opportunity to compete for the first time against most of the top specialists of this discipline.

STAGE RESULTS
1- Dennis 11’18”
2- Van Emden 3″
3- Hepburn s.t.
4- Cummings 8″
5- Roglic 11″
28- Ganna 32″
53- Mohoric 46″, 62-Laengen 48″, 81- Rui Costa 1′, 85- Marcato 1’01”, 102- Ferrari 1’11”, 112- Modolo 1’17”, 152- Kump 2’13”

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1- Quintana 25h56’27”
2- Dennis 25″
3- Pinot 36″
4-Roglic 45″
5-Thomas 58″
18- Rui Costa 3’28”, 43- Laengen 20’18”, 69- Marcato 35’29”, 73- Mohoric 36’16”, 95- Modolo 52’28”, 124- Ferrari 1h05’35”, 146- Kump 1h16’00”, 148- Ganna 1h19’14”