Filippo Gana He missed out on the rainbow jersey in the time trial by 12" after a 47,8 kilometer long challenge. Remco Evenepoel, the winner, practically gave him 0,25” per kilometer. A quarter of a second every thousand meters. A trifle.
A detachment like this makes you think and rethink: where did Ganna waste those few seconds? A question the Piedmontese asked himself after the race.
We asked three time trial experts: Adriano Malori, Edoardo Affini, and Marco Pinotti. An investigation, a technical reflection, which nevertheless remains very complicated. Let us remember that we're talking about small gaps, that we are in the era of marginal gains in which every detail has an impact, but that on the other hand (and paradoxically) 12” might not even be a few. In the dock are: materials, tactics, condition, warm-up, driving, rules... A real intrigue, in short!
Malori insists on the wind
Adriano Malori he had already accompanied us in the post of that time trial. "Malo" had identified the wind as Ganna's number one rival, at least among external factors. And in particular, the crosswind. And stay on that line.
«Even if not much was seen on TV – says Malori – in the longest stretch, the one where we were going in both directions, You could see how Evenepoel, even though he was a little guy, was swinging a lot. At that point, someone as big as Pippo was more resistant. If Remco was swinging, imagine Pippo.
"For the rest, I don't think he has lost ground on the materials because Ganna is still at the Ineos-Grenadiers And they work there well and consistently. If anything, given the final climb, with the double chainring instead of the single, Ganna could have gone a little faster. But even in the final kilometer, he was still 3" faster than Remco. In any case, it wouldn't have been enough to close the 12" gap.
"As for the driving, especially since the TV direction wasn't the best, it's hard to judge. You had to sit in the flagship behind Goofy. Generally speaking, you can lose those 12 seconds." All it takes is a couple of badly made curves that you have to relaunch at the exit and the omelette is doneBut, I repeat, we are not able to analyze this aspect."
Before closing, Malori brings up a very interesting point: According to him, the new UCI rules penalize Ganna's position: "Filippo is too squashed and less stretched out than others on the bike."
Affini, Remco and his cx
Edoardo Affini, The one who returns to racing today at the Benelux (Renewi Tour) is the one most skeptical about closing this gap. And he's doing the current time trials... and doing it fast.
«The difference with Remco is the “straw” – says the rider of the Jumbo Visma It's not easy to understand where to recover 12". I would start from the performance, but we need to know the real values of the boys. From what I understand, they said Pippo had one of his best performances ever, so I don't think he can be beaten on that score. And Pippo's tactical management was also good, as he was incredibly strong on the final wall.
«The same goes for materials: I even know that in Ineos-Grenadiers had given him new handlebars that made him even more aerodynamic so they could further refine something."
Affini also dwells on the issue of wind and aerodynamics. But rather than highlighting Ganna's disadvantage, he emphasizes Remco's advantage.
«evenepoel is very powerful, Although smaller than Ganna, he's smaller. He's not as big as me and Pippo, so it's more aerodynamic. People like us can lean as low on the handlebars as we want, but the impact from the front and the side wind is still great.
«I also think that the wind is a variable you can't control, so I would really have a hard time figuring out where to shave off those 12 seconds."
Pinotti: performances and rules
Marco Pinotti, technician of Jayco-AlUla, but at the same time a former time trialist and engineer, has instead a few more hypotheses to examine to recover those 12 seconds.
«I – explains Pinotti – even though Ineos talked about a great performance, I have some doubts about it. Let's be clear, I'm not saying Ganna didn't go strong, but he wasn't as great as other times. Maybe also because he had worked a lot for the track and had not done any specific work for the time trial. I know that they pushed a lot on aerodynamics (and the new handlebars would confirm it, ed.), on the materials and have lost a bit of focus on training.
«I think back to the time trial that Filippo won at Wallonie a few days earlier. He had been strong, but he had placed minimal gaps on Tarling and the others, despite the time trial measuring 32 kilometres. This got me thinking. You could put it this way: Ganna hasn't been slow, but for a variety of reasons, he hasn't grown as much as he could at his age."
Pinotti then insists on another aspect, a detail that we all noticed, but that no one looked into further: the radio Evenepoel had on his chest. That "big radio" certainly had some aerodynamic influences. In fact, inserted into that aerodynamic, form-fitting bodysuit, it was a profile. Ganna had one too, but his was much smaller: it was just the radio. Ganna didn't have the radio wrapped in bubble wrap like some have done this season.
«In this sense, clear rules would be useful. – says Pinotti – by the 'UCI. It's well known that a filler in that area offers advantages. In triathlon, which is free, they use it, but here we need to clarify once and for all how to do it. A similar surface, over a distance of almost 50 kilometers, could also have been decisive, given that we are talking about 12 seconds."
