Filippo Ganna wants to get even better to beat cycling’s “titans”: Pogorac, Van der Poel, Van Aert, and Evenepoel.

When Filippo Ganna first started out with INEOS Grenadiers, he was a generational time-trialist. But now, even though he’s getting better, he has to fight a group of “titans.” The Italian rider had a hard time getting wins at the same level, but he stands his ground and is as determined as ever for the 2025 season.

Today is the day to win, not the day to decide. “The goal for next season is to win as many games as possible,” Ganna told Gazzetta dello Sport. In his first Giro d’Italia in 2020, the Italian won four stages. He also won the ITT World Championships twice. That was a very good time in his career. Since then, he’s become a great classics rider and sometimes even a good climber, winning the 2023 Vuelta a San Juan GC.

He is changing things up for the 2025 season, though, because he wants to see if he can get even better at age 28. “Yes indeed. Dario Cioni will always be my go-to person for training advice, and he will also be my go-to person for time trials. But I will have a new “first” teacher for sports. His name is Dajo Sanders and he is Dutch. Whatever happens, he jokes, “I will keep bothering Dario all year.”

Ganna won a time trial at the Giro this year, but he came in second place at the Olympic Games and the World Championships to Remco Evenepoel. His time trial losses at Tirreno-Adriatico were to Juan Ayuso and Tadej Pogacar at the Giro. Rarely do other time-trial experts beat him. Instead, it’s the very skilled stage runners who have gotten to their current level. Even though Ganna is a very skilled and versatile rider, he is having a hard time getting wins against a group of riders who are much better than him.

“Yes indeed. Because they are Pogacar, Van der Poel, Van Aert, and Evenepoel, events will always be fighting me. A fight between huge creatures. Beyond wins and losses, the good thing is that I have always moved forward. “The values I’ve talked about don’t lie,” he says.

As a track master, Ganna says he will cut back on his schedule there so he can focus more on the road. His fellow countryman Jonathan Milan will do the same. “No, there are two reasons.” First, because track training is still part of my routine, I can do those heavy loads that I can’t handle on the road. So, you could say that it was “an extra boost and help for the efforts.”

“Las Vegas in 2028… I am not yet thinking about it. There are a lot of options, like time trials, road races, and track races. Being honest, it would be nice to even just make it to the 10th world title on the track. Then this year, I saw Michael Morkov’s goodbye on a velodrome track, and it made my skin crawl. Maybe someday.”