DESENZANO DEL GARDA – It's done. Under the podium, Ganna's large family smiles like they rarely do, like after the most important victories. The time trial has found its king, but the last minutes waiting for Pogacar were an unbearable bloodbathLombardi looks as if he's escaped danger. His parents are behind the podium. Dad Marco is sitting and says it was necessary, given all the consequences of a possible defeat. His mother looks at her dog Mya lying on the ground and notes that she's exhausted too. Cioni says it was about time.
«Due to the shape it had – he specifies the Tuscan sports director – and for the work he did. He was unlucky in Sanremo, having finished second in the Tirreno time trial. Do second as in Perugia it would have burned like having zero winsThis morning we returned to the trail. We chose the 64 single chainring with 11-34 cogs to have a scale. He struggled to get going for the first 2-3 kilometers. Then, when he started going, he was really going fast.I wasn't that worried, because I expected Pogacar to slow down towards the end. But we had also thought about that in Perugia, so With Tadej you can never take anything for granted».
That boy in pink
Ganna wants to talk. Bring out the turmoil that he had inside and that he often keeps to himselfThe images while he was waiting for Pogacar to arrive were exhausting, he had the fear in his eyes that the Perugia hoax would be repeated. At one point, a man appeared next to him. Jonathan Milan, which fortunately helped him to ease the tension. And Goofy tells the story.
«Behind this victory – he says – there is a lot of work, especially when you know that Nowadays the difference really is in the little thingsNowadays, even one percent of every little thing makes a difference. We were in the wind tunnel before coming here. We tried to improve the position, tried to do everything we couldEven in the Perugia time trial, when it was fast, I was able to maintain my usual speed standards. And today there wasn't the climb I had that day. And anyway there was a pink boy who made me suffer a lot».
Nothing to be taken for granted
Nobody expected Pogacar to be so strong in the time trials, especially on flat surfaces. On the eve of this stage, many feared that he could beat him again, as if in recent days he had been holding back from giving it his all. And when at the first intermediates the Slovenian began to run better times than the Italian, fear took hold.
«As I have already told many people – Pippo continues – I also have to thank him for having encouraged me day by dayTo achieve this goal and try to win. It seems easy. Ganna arrives at the time trials and wins. I wish! I'd sign a piece of paper saying that too. I'd go to sleep much more relaxed and wake up like a baby in the morning. But it's never a given, it's never easyWinning gives us that extra boost of morale, especially in view of next week.
«The day after Perugia there was a really tough stage and after two kilometers I was the first to break away together with Gaviria. I don't know if it was my head because I had given up or if it was because I had a bad day.But the idea of tackling 160 kilometers in a small group is never easy. For this reason, every day I tried not so much to save money, but certainly to save as much energy as possible to get to today and push on the pedals with both positive and negative energies».
The test with Foccoli
There's a hell of a racket outside with people calling him and calling Pogacar, like a cross-section of fans who have fallen in love with the Slovenian in pink, but who also recognise the passion and strength of the Piedmontese giant. And Ganna continues to tell his story.
«I have to thank the people – he says – there were so many people who really gave me incredible supportThanks to them too, we were able to complete this small undertaking today. It was only 32 kilometers, but in my head it seemed much longer, almost like a SanremoI wanted to win. Desenzano is almost my second home, with the track just a few kilometers away. I had come to see the route even before the Giro, after the Tour of the Alps, together with the mechanic Andrea Foccoli. He had followed me that day, he obliged me and said: "Okay, let's go and try it." So I have to say thanks also to him and to the whole team who made me get here today with the best legs, with the best strength in the head and with everything it takes to be able to win."
The wait with Milan
The last line, just before diving into the affection of that extraordinary audience, Ganna dedicates it to those exhausting and at the same time fun minutes spent with MilanOnly two Italian athletes have won stages in this Giro so far: these two. And both come from the track group, which showed up here today to show them its support. At the start there were Viviani, Scartezzini and Lamon, his family: another reason to give it your all.
"Johnny and I," he laughs, "even had time to joke around. I told him, 'Think about it, Johnny, you wait 4-5 hours for the stage, then you do the sprint. It's a 17-20 second sprint and you know immediately if you've won or lost.I waited two hours, do you realize? I'm here, I'm done. I gave my best performance, though. until the end, until the other one crosses the finish line, I will never know if I won or lost”. So it was a bit of a moment like that. He came around the corner, he nodded. When I saw him, I said to him: «Come on Johnny, come over because I need some support to get through the day…».
