I think it’s safe to say that, with two world time trial championships, Olympic gold, and an Hour Record already under his belt, Filippo Ganna didn’t really need to prove how ridiculously strong he is on a bike.
But then the 26-year-old Italian goes and does this as crosswinds hit the end of yesterday’s Tirreno-Adriatico stage into Foligno:
Føretrøjeiklædte @GannaFilippo havde ikke i sinde at lade en lidt uheldig udgangsposition være skyld i, at han ikke kom med på første vifte, da Jumbo prøvede at køre sidevindsræs i #TirrenoAdriatico i dag 😬😬🏍️🏍️ pic.twitter.com/alceteqtNN
— Morten Thomsen (@maatte_T) March 8, 2023
Or tomorrow or pretty much any day soon https://t.co/Z4HxJOzMSB
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) March 9, 2023
To be fair, it was only Wout van Aert and the rest of Jumbo-Visma piling on the pressure when Ganna decided to scythe through three-quarters of the peloton on his own.
Easy then…
I thought I’d kick off this wintery edition of the live blog with one of the more heart-warming moments so far from this year’s Race to the Sun:
🚴🏻♂️ Décrassage en famille pour @romainbardet🥰
🚴🏻♂️ Family cool-down for @romainbardet🥰#ParisNicepic.twitter.com/k8A8OlERu4
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 8, 2023
Cuteness alert. #parisnicepic.twitter.com/wMtNm1rfHg
— daniel mcmahon (@cyclingreporter) March 8, 2023
Some serious cycling fans on Twitter, however, noted that young Angus Bardet – who astutely closed the door on his old man in the sprint for the team bus – may be following more closely in the chaotic wheel tracks of a certain anarchic French sprint line deviator, Nacer Bouhanni, than his polite Tour de France podium placer dad…
Kid needs to hold his line better
— Nich Carlson (@nichcarlson) March 8, 2023
Bigger deviation than bouahnni
— Dylan Curtis (@DMCX1998) March 8, 2023
If that was Bouhanni!!!!!!
— Adam Wood (@Gotwood25) March 9, 2023
smh, if it was Nacer Bouhanni the UCI would've slapped him with a 6-month ban already 🙄🙄🙄
— miguel (@mcmalveiro) March 9, 2023
That shockingly dangerous post-stage manoeuvre from three-year-old Angus (who allegedly raced against Arnaud De Lie and Juan Ayuso in the U4 category last year) also prompted several calls for the Paris-Nice organisers to throw the book at the upstart:
That’s a clear sprint deviation by the child. 😠
They deviate from their lane & endanger the adult, should be a full-blown DQ and a few months suspension. 🚫 pic.twitter.com/edvaDEtwxh
— Benji Naesen (@BenjiNaesen) March 9, 2023
Definitely take 200 Swiss Francs from his piggy bank! 🫣😜❤️🚴♂️
— Mark VRR5 (@MarkhillR5S) March 9, 2023
Look like he was ready to put the shoulder into the bloke too. Vicious.
— Mark Textor (@textor_mark) March 9, 2023
Reckless for sure but the elephant in the room is the deliberate obfuscation of what are surely illegal socks
— Kristian Doolan (@kednelly) March 9, 2023
Also I'm pretty sure that bike is not UCI approved. Typical UCI lack of consistency. What a joke.
— Jeroen Kooij (@JeroenK_MTB) March 9, 2023
Though I reckon kicking two generations of Bardets off the race in the space of six years might be pushing it, even for ASO.
Romain Bardet disqualified from Paris-Nice for taking car tow. #ParisNicepic.twitter.com/bUEED8E3Fi
— Peter SagFan (@Peter_SagFan) March 5, 2017
> Stickiest of 'sticky bottles' gets Romain Bardet kicked out of Paris-Nice
It’s a good job that Primož Roglič is over in Italy at Tirreno, otherwise we all know who would be getting the blame:
It was Fred Wrights fault.
— Paul James 🇯🇪 (@JerseyPaul90) March 9, 2023
It just goes to show, Peter Sagan was right: all these youngsters flooding into the pro ranks these days before they’ve properly served their apprenticeships, putting the old timers in danger with their sketchy bike-handling and youthful swagger.
There’s no respect in the peloton anymore these days, I tell ya!