Marco Villa is in Ghent, he will follow the Be Giorni which starts tonight with two under 23s, Mattia Pinazzi and Davide Boscaro, so that they can memorise the mechanisms and the type of effort. In the meantime, however, the Italian coach is drawing up plans and putting his ideas in order, given that the track sector entrusted to him has doubled with the arrival of the womenThe lack of access to the Montichiari velodrome won't be a major problem for the national team, given the lack of closely spaced events.
«The next commitments will be road training camps – he says – starting from November 25th in the Canary Islands, with the little group that I will then take to the Vuelta San Juan, so I let those who do less club activity run. Lamon, Scartezzini, BertazzoWe're trying to help Liam out. As a world champion, I feel obliged to help him find a team.He earned his Olympic qualification, which is important. No one has ever given him anything for free, and he's had a lot of bad luck, including a slipped disc at the same time Milan was booming. Bertazzo deserves it."
When will we start talking about the track?
The first test will take place in April World Cup, now called the Nations CupFrom the 21st to the 24th in Glasgow. They will continue in May and June, although the locations are not yet on the calendar. In August there will be the European Championships in Monaco, with all the disciplines, so I'll have to manage it well with those who will lead the way.
When will Montichiari reopen?
The Sport and Health architect I spoke to told me late January, other sources talk about February-March. I prefer to believe it's in January.
How will you handle the girls, who won't be in Ghent, much less in San Juan?
I will try to do the same program. The idea is to train them together on the trackIf there is work to be done by the quartet, men and women will work together. If you work on the Madison, you can think about mixed pairs, also to raise the technical level of the girlsI think the work to be done will be to get to know their technicians…
Are they all unknown?
Not all, but some, yes. I inherited a healthy sector, because Salvoldi worked well. Only now the girls are all turning pro and have moved to WorldTour teams, so managers, team managers and trainers come into playI'll have to confront them and earn their trust, as I did with the men. For example, I don't know Ina Teutenberg, Trek's sports director.
Will you have collaborators for women?
Bragato will be there. Amadio advises me to have him follow the girls, but since I am the technical commissioner, I want to manage them in a certain wayBragato will be the one with the contacts, but I'll still be the one in charge, like with the men. He'll take away the work of making contacts and scheduling weekly. If I have to figure out who's coming to the retreat next week, I can't make 28 phone calls. That means Masotti will call the 14 men and Bragato the 14 women. But the way of training remains mine, because I don't want to divide the sectors.
In what sense?
I don't want Bragato to be happy if the women win and Masotti to be happy if the men win. We must be a single sectorWe've always been together in Montichiari. Before, when we had the velodrome full-time, they had 120 days a year. If we had to divide them up, it would have been 60 for Salvoldi and 60 for us. All together, it was 120 for everyone..
So, to recap…
From November 25th to December 5th in the Canary Islands with the San Juan group. Then 7-8 days before Christmas, we go to Formia, or to Sicily, maybe even in Noto if you find the right prices. Instead a recall on the track on December 22-23, probably in AigleThen again from December 28th to 30th, on the track again, in Switzerland or Novo Mesto. Then we really hope that in January they'll give us Montichiari back and we'll all be happy.
