And here is the last big event of the season for the track too: to the The Stab Vélodrome in Roubaix hosts the world championships. The challenge will last five days. Five very intense days, from October 20th to 24th. Madison, pursuit, keirin, omnium, individual pursuit… a long and intense list of events that will see 21 Italians took part, 12 men and 9 women.
New parquet
For this event the Jean Stablinski Vélodrome in Roubaix, where a few weeks ago Sonny Colbrelli he took the Roubaix on the adjacent track, he redid his face, or rather his facade. “We dressed up for the party,” said velodrome director Adrien Noppe. A clear refresh for this establishment, a sign that the French also care a lot about welcoming the over 40 nations registered.
Really the track has been smoothed, A costly operation that's performed every ten years, it should have been done next year. But anticipation is high, and they're also trying to capitalize on the media hype the recent Olympics have given the entire track scene. It's this track that our French cousins have been working on ahead of Tokyo. In short, it's their "Montichiari."
Pursuit: title and record
The hottest challenges for us are in the pursuit, both individual and team, obviously. there's almost no need to say anything about the team one: We are the reigning Olympic champions and we have all the spotlight on us. Australians and especially Danes want “revenge”. Ganna It's been a while since he's competed on the track and it's fair to place a few small quid on him, even though the Piedmontese has always shown himself to be at the top of his game when called upon to perform at his best. See the prologue of the Giro, the Olympics, the time trial world championship. And then we have a Jonathan Milan in great form and fresh from his European title in the 4km individual race.
And in the individual pursuit, there's really a lot on our plate. Both Milan and Ganna will be competing, and Pippo is looking to break the world record. A record that was taken from him by the young American Ashton Lambie. Everyone's waiting for his show, not just Italians. If he does what he did in the Tokyo finale, it'll be a fantastic show.
The individual pursuit will take place on Friday and the team pursuit on Thursday. A remarkable feat for our two thoroughbreds. Marco Villa He will have to carefully study the program leading up to the final and ration his strength as best he can. And in this sense, he could play a very important role. Liam Bertazzo, inserted as a reserve in the starting list table. Maybe he could be the rider of the Vini Zabu to take to the track in the first round. We'll see...
Pink Quartet Reshuffled
Let's move on to the blue ones. Salvoldi He brought nine girls. Clearly there is Elisa Balsamo, More and more the national team's beacon. Elisa is desperate for redemption, both for the quartet and for the Omnium. In Tokyo, she wasn't brilliant and even fell. Those around her tell us she didn't give up, not for a day, not even for an hour, after the World Championships. She's always remained incredibly focused. As soon as she stepped off the podium in Leuven, her mind started racing for this event. Elisa won in England and is looking great.
Another girl who can give us great satisfaction is his partner from Valcar, Chiara Consonni. She is also fresh from her victory (on the road). Chiara is lined up both in the team pursuit (the quartet) and in the Madison with Silvia Zanardi. Not to mention that This sister in art is a born competitor and perhaps she will want to get a few things off her chest, for the fact that she was not called up to the Olympics.
And speaking of the women's quartet, a nice shakeup is expected compared to Tokyo. The Italians are without Vittoria Guazzini, who suffered a fracture in Roubaix, in the cobblestone race. While in Japan, Salvoldi had lined up: Paternoster, Barbieri, Balsamo e Guazzini, this time they are given as starters (at least in the list of registered players): Martina Alzini, Elisa Balsamo, Chiara Consonni and Martina Fidanza, with the “Pater” reserve.
An adventure
And then there is Viviani, who is expected to confirm his podium finish in the omnium. Not to mention that Elia will also be involved in the elimination race, and given how he performed in the last few road sprints, he might be able to do well. He's also worth keeping an eye on. Miriam Vece in the sprint, the only one of the entire Italian expedition to approach a fast discipline.
Otherwise it will be a great experience. We'll be there live. We'll be on the world's hardwood floors. We'll be able to admire technical solutions up close. Follow warm-up and concentration procedures before testing. Observe the materials and mechanics. There's a lot going on, and we can't wait to tell you about it.
