Filippo Ganna eyes August dates for world hour attempt

Filippo Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) is laying out plans for his assault on the hour world record.

La Gazzetta Dello Sport reports that Ganna will push to top Victor Campenaerts’ (Lotto-Soudal) mark in the Grenchen velodrome on August 23 or August 24 this summer.

The Swiss track is the same as that to be used by Ellen van Dijk (Trek-Segafredo) in her effort this Monday.

Campenaerts set the 55.089km distance to beat at the Aguascalientes velodrome near Mexico City in April 2019 and has hung on to the record since. A recent effort by Alex Dowsett (Israel-Premier Tech) on the same high-altitude track came up just 534 meters shy.

Also read:

• Ganna aims at hour world record at sea level
• Van Dijk: ‘The hour record is the pinnacle as a time trialist’

Double road world time trial champion and track pursuit powerhouse Ganna has long been linked to an effort on the hour record.

“We have to see if we can arrange everything exactly as I would like,” Ganna said this winter. “I’m thinking about it and we’re working on it with the team. Because if you do, we shouldn’t leave anything to chance.”

Rather than following the recent trend for efforts in the thin air, the Ineos Grenadiers ace plans to work the high-speed conditions of the sea-level Swiss circuit recently used in the European track championships.

“I’m not going to make the attempt at [altitude], as many advise to do. I will then attack the world hour record at sea level,” Ganna said in December. “When I do it that way, it’s different and that gives me more satisfaction.”

Ganna is currently training on Mount Teide ahead of a summer program tracking through the Critérium du Dauphiné and Italian TT championships in June before a likely start at the Tour de France in July. The 25-year-old will have one month to rest and recover after arriving in Paris ahead of his solo “hour of power.”

Gazzetta reports Ganna’s preparation will be overseen by Ineos staffer Dario Cioni.