«Ballerini taught me something important – says Bennati while he is in the car on his way home – that For a rider, friendship is one thing and the work of a technician is another.He and I were super friends, he was even my best man. And yet In the two world championships won by Bettini, I was the rider left out. There was a superior tactical reason, and Franco went straight ahead.».
Bennati city of Italy
Daniele Bennati succeeds Davide Cassani in the role of technical commissioner of professionals (The two are together in the opening photo on the eve of Ponferrada 2014, when the Tuscan was director of the Romagna national team for the first time). They made it official this morning in Milan during a press conference organised by Federation, but we had been talking about it for a while. We had been discussing it with him for at least four years, since he was half-jokingly and half-seriously There was talk of a possible move by Cassani to lead the Giro d'Italia and the Italian flagship to be occupied by someone else. Things went as we all know and the result is that Benna, 41 years old last September 24, from 2022 he will have the keys to that car and all the duties that the role entails.
The road runs beneath his wheels. The satnav sent him toward Cesena, and from there he'll tackle the Apennines on his way to Arezzo, since the traffic jam in Sasso Marconi seemed prohibitive due to an accident.
How long have you been thinking about this assignment?
Indeed I have always been inspired by the figure of Alfredo Martini, who is also unapproachable. His ways have always fascinated me. Then I became friends with Franco (Ballerini, ed.), with whom a wonderful relationship was born. I always liked his charisma, his ability to interact with athletes by looking them in the eye.Then, at the end of my career, when I changed roles and started to be a director on the run, it was the others who told me so.
Tell you what?
That I was cut out for that role, that I could be a national team coach. And by hearing it so often, I started to get the idea going through my head.In the meantime, during Covid, I took the three levels of sporting director, but I wasn't thinking about this role yet. I had moved forward, I had spoken with Ineos and Movistar, but I had no pressing need to get on a flagship.
So how did it happen?
A morning My phone rings and I read Dagnoni's nameI had the number because during the Olympics, Iuri Chechi and I had made a broadcast from Vigorelli and I needed his contact information. I didn't know him, given the election results, I had put it behind meInstead, he calls me and says he'd like to meet me. It didn't take me long to understand why. So there was the first meeting with him. Roberto Amadio was also there at the second meeting. And then various consultations began.
And now we find ourselves with Bennati as national team coach…
Today I was in that press conference with the blue shirt that I hadn't worn since Bergen 2017I still have to process it. To be honest! I have some ideas in my head that I'd like to implement, but I still have to organize my thoughts and meet with the other coaches. One thing is very clear to me, and I said it today. It's great to give young people a taste of professionalism by taking them to Italian competitions wearing the blue jersey. but that shirt must absolutely be deservedMaybe because I remember well how much I had to sweat for it the first time to put it in an international competition in Italy in 1997 as a junior.
It's a role of choices and decisions to be communicated…
Bettini often told me that This is the most delicate phase and I have no trouble believing him. It's a role where decisions have to be made and I carry the example of Ballero who left me out those two times within me.
Goal: rainbow jersey?
By force. I would also sign immediately for the four European championships won by Cassani, but the priority is the World Cup, which has been missing since 2008. You win it if you have the champion, or if you have many good riders., which are not lacking in Italy. In 2019 Trentin lost a World Cup that seemed already won against Pedersen, who is not a champion, but a good rider. In Italy we have at least 5-6 riders of that caliber. Cycling is changing, but we can have our say. So it will take luck and hard work, but we can try to win it.
There have been two controversial World Cups in your history. In 2011, you were captain and the team turned its back on you. In 2016, you were the strongest, but still, there were races for others...
2011 was a bad personal parenthesisMaybe I wouldn't have won, but I could have fought for the podium, or at least tried. I wasn't slow. I'd come out of the Vuelta well, and in training I'd managed to reach 1.700 watts. But that national team was too young and evidently I wasn't enough of a leader.Because of that World Cup my relationship with Bettini was ruined and he also later admitted that he had done something wrong to meWe happened to talk about it, because over time our relationship has re-established itself and now we are good friends.
What about 2016?
2016 and what I did maybe I'm the reason why I'm here as a coach for the Italian national team.
In what sense?
The World Championships in Doha was the day I went fastest on the bike ever. Everyone knew I was the fittest, but I couldn't betray my teammates and the coach I had committed to. working to get there in a sprint. I don't regret what I did, nor did I ever think of going back on my word during the race. That World Cup is an example that I will bring to my boys when talking about roles. Although I had trouble sleeping in the following days, because if I had been another man, I could have taken advantage of the opportunity.
Will Bennati be a coach capable of changing his mind?
In normal life I am capable of doing that. There must be the ability to rethink a decision made, also to have a backup plan that never hurts. Of course, everything gets complicated at the World Championships, because there are no radios and you have to blindly trust your teammates... Your teammates, Benna... You're not a rider anymore (laughs, ed.). You have to trust your men and be clear with them before the start.
We talk about the national team as a team, what do you see as different?
I ran four world championships, I never saw how they were prepared behind the scenesI arrived at the hotel and everything was ready. However, I see that Amadio wants to give the sense of a single great team, so we will meet in Milan next week for set up programs that are tied together by the same threadI liked the idea from the start, but I have to digest it all, get to know the people and their way of working.
And how did the Bennatis take it?
Maybe they got used to the idea more than I did. After the second meeting they were sure, I took some time to think about it againBut they are happy, very happy…
