In the end, Filippo Ganna was second, beaten by a bike’s length, the second time in three years he’s been the first loser. But just the mere fact he was there, contesting a three-up sprint in a two-way battle on the Via Roma, was extraordinary, astonishing. On the Cipressa, where Milan-Sanremo cracked and erupted into life like it hasn’t done for 29 years, only Ganna and Mathieu van der Poel were able to keep pace with The Hunted and The Hunter, Tadej Pogačar. But as the attacks kept coming, as the changes of pace stepped up not incrementally but aggressively, Ganna was distanced – but barely. He kept hanging on, eyeballing the rear wheels of both sets of superstars, each chasing the 14th Monument between them. A trio again as they hurtled towards the Poggio, but onto the final climb’s slopes and this time Ganna was smoked, 20 seconds off the back. He had, he correctly claimed, “tried to follow the two gods of cycling.”

It was game over for the time trial supremo, so it was assumed. But he’s not the Italian Stallion, Top Ganna, the Hour Record holder without being able to reply with staggering power, with sheer brute force. Down the Poggio’s descent, and the gap kept on closing, a second every hairpin. “On the descent, I closed my eyes and said: ‘If I crash, I crash’.”

This article was published on Rouleur during Milan-Sanremo 2025. You can read the full article here.