Ganna, the four conditions for winning the Milano-Sanremo-Corriere.it

Of the 5 classic-monuments, Sanremo is the only one open to all types of runners: it can be won by a sprinter (even a pure one), a classics hunter, a man of great laps and even a time trialist.

For Pippo Ganna from Verbania, the savior of blue cycling, to conquer it, it takes an almost miraculous coincidence of four favorable situations. The first that Ganna arrives at the base of the Poggio (after 285 km) with the tank still full of energy, without having dispersed it along the Capi and in the 10′ climb of the Cipressa. The second is that our cuirassier is able to resist the frenetic pace along the 6’/6’30” of the Poggio, especially in the final two minutes when the
Pogacar, the Van Aerts or the Van der Poels they raise hell.

The third is that he (good downhill skier, not extraordinary) holds the wheel of the Mohoric on duty along the hairpin bends that descend on the Aurelia. The fourth and last that SuperPippo releases your opponents with an 800 watt plunger at two kilometres, little more or less, from the finish line in via Roma, knowing that if he manages to stay ahead of the group in the last stretch of the plain he will be controlled obsessively. Of chances in the sprint, even in a very tight sprint, Ganna has almost zero.

This is why a triumph in Sanremo would be worth more than Olympic gold for him, more than the 7 world titles between road and track.