Italy's Filippo Ganna set his sights on the UCI Hour Record after breaking the men's individual pursuit world record twice at the Minsk World Cup on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Italian clocked 4:04.252 in Sunday morning's qualifying round, beating the 4:05.423 mark set by American Ashton Lambie. In the final, he broke his own record with an astounding time of 4:02.647.

The Team Ineos rider hopes to be a key part of the Italian Team Pursuit team at next summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo, and to run a Grand Tour in 2020 to form the base for his Hour Record attempt.

"Yes," he said. The Hour Record was just an idea, but now it's a goal," Ganna told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Before I can go for it, I need to have the right endurance and I need to ride the Grand Tours for that. I really want to do that, but it's up to Team Ineos.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ganna is likely to compete in the Grand Tour in 2020 and hopes for the Giro d'Italia.

At the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, Ganna won the bronze medal behind Rohan Dennis and Remco Evenpoel.

In his first season with Team Ineos, Gana won the Italian time trial title and took stage wins at Tour La Provence and BinckBank Tour. He struggled in the cobbled classic races, but put in the hard work when needed.

"Even if someone tried to frame me as a track rider, I also showed at the World Championships that I was a road rider," Ganna noted.

Ganna is the first Italian to hold the world record for individual pursuit since Andrea Collinelli in 1996, and La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that his record is second only to Alberto Bettiol's Tour de Flanders victory and Elia Viviani's It is one of Italy's best performances of the 2019 season, behind only Alberto Bettiol's Tour de Flandre win and Elia Viviani's European road race win, La Gazzetta dello Sport noted.

Viviani suggested that, due to Ganna's physiology, he was born to be the fastest individual pursuit rider in the world. Italian national coach Marco Villa is confident that Ganna can run even faster and break the four-minute barrier in the individual pursuit.

Lambie's record of 4:05.423 was achieved at the Pan American Championships in Bolivia at an altitude of over 2,500 m above sea level, and conditions in Minsk, located 280 m above sea level, were not perfect.

"If I go to altitude now, I will be able to break the four-minute barrier," Villa told La Gazzetta dello Sport. Because his time of 4 hours, 7 minutes, and 456 seconds (the record at sea level at the World Championships in Plushkow) was, by my calculations, better than the American's time."

Before challenging the hour record, Villa hopes Ganna can help Italy win a medal in the team pursuit in Tokyo.

"I am confident he will boost the whole team and our ambitions. We have not yet reached Filippo's full potential. Now we have to aim not only for medals, but also for a world record in team pursuit."