There were slightly mixed feelings for Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) at the end of the E3 Saxo Classic, proud of taking third but lamenting yet another almost win.
After finishing second at Milan-San Remo, it's another podium for Ganna, who is becoming something of a nearly-man in these big races, often close to riders like Friday's winner, Mathieu van der Poel, but still waiting for a win.
"I would like sometimes to win. A lot of podiums is nice, but one victory, I need it," Ganna told TV cameras at the finish. "Also in Tirreno I was second place on GC, so that's life. It's better to be close and on the podium. At the moment, it's OK."
Ganna's contentment with Friday's result came from the fact that the Italian gave all he could on the cobbles and climbs of E3, and arrived at the finish totally empty, and beaten by two hugely strong opponents in Van der Poel and Mads Pedersen.
"I think in the end I did the maximum I can do," he said. "I say in the last 20k 'I wanna cry' because the legs were completely fucked and I chased as fast as possible to come back behind Pedersen, but I think two riders like this is really strong to beat.
"I'm really happy with the performance, I'm really happy with the team because they gave me all the support for the ride today with the best conditions to do the race."
Up against Van der Poel, though, even Ganna's best wasn't quite enough on the hardest parts of the course, and he admitted that he simply met his limit during the key moments.
"I think [Van der Poel] did an amazing performance today," Ganna said. "When we arrived in the Oude Kwaremont I said 'maybe I can stay in the wheel, maybe' but then I saw the progression and looked at my numbers and said 'if I go, I'll arrive at the top and sit in the grass' so more than this, I couldn't do."
As he pointed out, the result was not just down to Ganna's strength but also an impressive tactical ride from Ineos Grenadiers, with Ben Turner and Josh Tarling riding in harmony to set up Ganna before the decisive climbs.
"The guys were really organised. Ben Turner did an amazing time to sort Josh and Ganna out for the Taaienberg, and then the race was on," DS Ian Stannard told Cyclingnews at the finish.
"We wanted guys up the road and a more aggressive race, and a bit more thinned out in those bits, so how the day panned out was good for us."
Tarling and Turner are riders who have already proved their strength, but today was a step up for the young Brits, proving they can also get the tactics right and stay organised, in this case better than teams like Visma-Lease a Bike or Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
"Josh is a massive up-and-coming rider, he can ride his bike, you see how good he is in the time trials. It's really good to see him maturing and being up there. Ben has high expectations of himself, but he completely set the team up today, and it was really good to see," Stannard added.
Ganna has now taken Gent-Wevelgem off his programme, and wasn't originally set to race again until Paris-Roubaix, but the team seemingly left the door open to adding a race – namely the Tour of Flanders – to the Italian's schedule next week.
"We'll see in the next few days," Stannard said. "He's got ambitions. I think after today that will be fuelled even more."
Enough to beat the big guns?
As much as Ganna will be motivated for Paris-Roubaix and a possible Tour of Flanders assault, two clear things lie in his way: Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.
Both are set to ride both Flanders and Roubaix now, and have proved near unbeatable forces in the Monuments for the last few years. Could Ganna be the one to do it? In the Hell of the North, perhaps, but not in Belgium, was his view.
"With my weight, with this type of race, I'm not the guy that can beat him," he said of Van der Poel. "We will see in the future. Maybe at Roubaix, I don't know. I think he is one of the best riders we have in this world of cycling, so for sure I would like to beat him sometime."
The team, however, remains hopeful, and their Norgwegen director Kurt Asle Arvesen is already cooking up Ineos' gameplan for Roubaix.
"I think that we need to believe and use our strength with the numbers," Arvesen said to Cyclingnews and Daniel Benson's Substack.
"We have many cards to play, and in that way, they’re not unbeatable. We have a few guys to play out before Josh and Pippo, and in Roubaix, it’s flat, and if we have guys in the front, we don’t need to work behind."
Ganna, too, is already looking to the next opportunity, where an almost win could turn into that long-awaited victory.
"We think to recover well, and then we see what can happen for the next races."
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