SAINT QUENTIN EN YVELINES (France) – There are three track medals and it is not a given that our adventure of Paris 2024 Let it end here. Waiting for Letizia Paternoster, the technical commissioner Marco Villa enjoys success in madison, unexpected in some ways, as perhaps we expected a little more from the quartets, especially the male one. Villa begins with the Madison.
"The victory of Consonni and Guazzini – says Marco (opening with Viviani after yesterday's Madison) – did justice to the women's sector, who did not get the medal with the quartet due to the bad luck he had Elisa Balsam».
So did Elia Viviani and Simone Consonni do justice to the men's sector?
I really think so. Elia is doing great, I've never seen him go so fast in the omniumHe changed his way of training. He saw that to run these races you have to use longer gear ratiosWe didn't have them in our legs, but we worked on it, we put a lot of effort into it.
Was there a bit of disappointment after the omnium?
We went to the hotel in the evening with the clear perception that we were missing somethingIn the first scratch, something happened that never happens to us: Thomas took the lap so easily. Today (yesterday, ed.) we tried that too. Even Elia was ready to try to take the lead right from the start, as Austria did.It was crazy, but we had to come up with something.
Besides the head, he had the legs to do it.
He's fine, I repeat. After the omnium, everything didn't add up. He deserved a result, which repays him for the efforts he made.Simone, too, always came close to achieving great results. We didn't work very specifically, but we got there well. Is not a medal as an outsider.
Did the fall take away a gold?
Portugal came back strong in the final 30 laps. I didn't recognize them in the first 160 laps; they made a short attack and then fell back. The pace was high for everyone. It's a shame about the crash. Elia was changing gear, Simone fell, and he got back up, doing another six laps., with New Zealanders and Portuguese attacking. That effort at the end penalized us. Sin.
The track sector is healthy, we can now say.
The absolute value is always the same. The women's sector has been added, which has learned from the men's sectorThe talent is there. We came here with a wealth of experience, as Olympic champions with the men and world champions two years ago with the women on this track. The level is high, these medals did not come for free.
The English wonder how it is possible that Italy presents strong teams at every edition.
We and the English have the same way of working. In fact, they've copied us on some things. In preparing London they built the Sky to win the OlympicsFrom there came Wiggins, Cavendish, and Thomas. Now they have Hayter. The performance model has remained the same. Their way of working is ours. You have to take the strong ones, and the strong ones stay on the street. So you have to find a way to keep them from losing their road racing, which pays you a living. But the track gives you Olympic medals.
And the future?
I would like to have a leading Italian team that retains young players and allows them to follow the path of Viviani, Ganna, Consonni and MilanLet's hope it doesn't remain in the drawer. There's been a change of direction since London. I asked the Federation about it. We've perfected the system you see now and we've found the champions. Mother Nature has given us champions. Mother Consonni even gave us two.. From London we created a system and this is important.
Elia Viviani closes a circle.
In London it was just me and him. And there he lost a gold medal. He lost it in the first scratch, due to a fall.Hansen wasn't among the seven riders who were taking the lead. That crash allowed him to rest and regroup. If he hadn't crashed, he wouldn't have taken that opportunity and subsequently earned all those points that allowed him to fight until the end.
An adjective for Elijah.
Immense. Incredible. He trained like an eighteen-year-old. He is an example and fortunately others have taken an example from him. It's a shame that not many sports directors or managers take him as an example. They still think that sending kids to the track is a handicap.
