At just 26 years old, Simone Drink water he said enough. His pro career lasted a few years, between the difficult and tumultuous experience at Vini Zabu and a two-year period atEolo-Kometa without personal trumpets, but with much appreciation for his work within the team. His retirement represents an example of what it means to live in contemporary cycling, which demands so much, which continually puts you to the test, which wears you out and squeezes you very quicklyAn example that should make us think.
Simone talks about it calmly, convinced of his choice even though he is aware of the fact that he is facing a profound change in his life: «I am proud of what I have done – he says – I reached a high level even though I wasn't competing in a WorldTour team, but I will be able to say one day that I ran with the strongestIf I have one regret, it's that I left very young, at 20, not yet having the necessary guidelines to live in this environment. Without them, mistakes happen: you try to learn, you move forward but you're always missing something.».
Let's try to retrace your career. What were the first two years like?
I had raced for Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia, then Neri Sottoli, and the results were not lacking. Many races abroad, a few placings. until the stage victory at the Tour de Langkawi. That was the highest, most beautiful moment.From there I expected growth, but instead it was a constant up and down, like I was on a roller coaster.
You won in 2019. The following year was the year of Covid, do you think it penalized you excessively?
It's been a strange season, yes, but that has little to do with what happened. Regarding Vini Zabù, I want to be clear: The “messes” that broke out, the doping cases that led to its end must not make us forget the people who were inside it. It was a good group, close-knit, that worked well and correctly. At the Giro we were doing well, then the positive case led to searches in our rooms and the repercussions on the environment were strongThe following year, another incident occurred: they came to search my house and seize my phones, a truly tragic situation for someone like me who had nothing to do with it. We were excluded from the Giro, there was almost no competition anymore, luckily one day the phone rang…
Who was?
Ivan Low And I will always thank him for this, for the opportunity he gave me to move to Eolo-Kometa. I found myself in a completely different world, an extremely professional structure, where everything was perfect and all the negativity I was coming from was erasedLittle by little, I felt like I was getting back to myself, and in fact, the second half of 2022 was very positive, despite the fact that during the season I first had to deal with Covid and then with knee problems.
And this year?
I had started well, doing my part in South America and Istria, I also ran the Sanremo, but Then I was out for three months. I returned to racing in June but struggled to get back into racing rhythm.In the second part of the year came the trips to Slovakia, Croatia and Türkiye, a good group had formed in the running as well as outside, with Masters, Lonardi and the others. However, I understood that the contract would not be renewed.
Have you tried to see if there were other ways?
Lots of words, but nothing concrete. I live with my girlfriend, I've reached a point where I have to make careful choices.. There was objectively no team that could guarantee me an adequate salary to get by. I thought about it and I have come to the decision to close, convinced of what I do.
Your story almost seems to demonstrate how, when you're young, you're faced with a very uncertain and sometimes unstable future. Looking back, would you think about it again?
Difficult question. When you're faced with a three-year contract at that age, with your entire career ahead of you, how can you say no? You think maybe he'll give up, stay U23 but then who says that train will pass again? You risk having played the only real card available to you. Because you don't know if in the future you'll have accidents, problems, defeats, and maybe no one will call you again. Cycling today is like that, you risk getting to 24 and being told you're old, when you're absolutely not old, you just don't have the patience to wait and the desire to invest in a rider of that age.
Another aspect that emerges is that figures like yours, not winners but very useful for teamwork, are no longer taken into much consideration...
It's true, but I'll say more. The riders will also disappear. Morkov o richness, those who guarantee the successes of the sprinter on duty. Look Philipsen: he throws the sprints at a certain point Van der Poel, the world champion! Teams all want winning riders, it's as if they were all captains, predefined roles are disappearing and a figure like mine even before the others.
And now?
Now I will enter January to work in the family business, a sheet metal shop in Marostica, my father's and where my brother also worksI'm starting a new life, a more peaceful one, with a different pace, and spending time with my family, with less stress. For now, I'm not thinking about cycling, even though I miss it. Over time, we'll see if something comes of it. I would like to work with young people, but it would still be a hobbyI couldn't afford to be away every weekend for eight months of the year. I've already given enough in that regard...
