{"id":941043,"date":"2026-10-26T02:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T02:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941043\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T02:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T02:18:11","slug":"geraint-thomas-explains-filippo-gannas-transfer-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941043\/","title":{"rendered":"Geraint Thomas explains Filippo Ganna’s transfer reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filippo Ganna<\/a>\u2019s departure from Netcompany INEOS<\/a> came as a surprise to many. The Italian had been loyal to the British team for years and seemed completely at home there. Was the transfer to Lidl-Trek<\/a> his decision, or did it come from his employer? Geraint Thomas<\/a> explains the time trialist\u2019s departure and sheds light on several aspects of the matter.<\/p>\n

After 2018, Ganna made the switch from UAE Team Emirates to Team INEOS, and has been an indispensable part of the team ever since.<\/p>\n

\"filippo-ganna\"\/<\/p>\n

Ganna on his beloved time-trial bike.<\/p>\n

Ganna brought INEOS plenty of silverware<\/p>\n

He became a two-time world time trial champion, won eight stages in the Giro d’Italia, and claimed no fewer than 41 victories during his eight years with the British team. However, after yet another successful year, he decided to leave for Lidl-Trek.<\/p>\n

Thomas was first a teammate of the Italian, and later served as Head of Racing. \u201cFrom a purely personal perspective, it was really sad to see him leave; he was a good friend,\u201d the Welshman says on his podcast, Watts Occurring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d also been with the team for six or seven years and was often on my team during the Grand Tours. We rode together a lot, and it was a shame to see him go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could Netcompany INEOS have kept Ganna?<\/p>\n

Or was room made for him at Netcompany INEOS? It seems to have been the latter. Thomas cites Josh Tarling\u2019s presence as one of the reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to make decisions on our end. You have Josh and Pipo on the same team, and that costs a lot of money. And there\u2019s no longer an endless supply of money\u2014and there never was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"joshua-tarling\"\/<\/p>\n

Tarling will have more responsibilities at Netcompany INEOS following Ganna’s departure.<\/p>\n

No room for both Tarling and Ganna at Netcompany INEOS<\/p>\n

When Lidl-Trek expressed interest, the decision from the Netcompany INEOS camp was pretty straightforward. Ganna was given the opportunity to take on a new challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is going to be his last major contract, then you don\u2019t want to stand in his way. You also don\u2019t know what would happen if he had served out his contract next year,\u201d said Thomas.<\/p>\n

So Tarling is actually getting a bit of a promotion on the British team. \u201cJosh is a lot younger, and he\u2019s gradually stepping into the role of road captain,\u201d his compatriot explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both time trial specialists; they have similar strengths and weaknesses. Can you afford to keep both of them on the team? Ultimately, no. I wish him the best of luck at Lidl-Trek.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filippo Ganna\u2019s departure from Netcompany INEOS came as a surprise to many. The Italian had been loyal to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,177694,79612,301239,323764,85],"class_list":["post-941043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-filippo-ganna","tag-geraint-thomas","tag-latest-cycling-news","tag-netcompany-ineos","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}