Al Tour of the Alps he had to pull: a very common and healthy practice among younger riders, especially if you have a certain Simon Yates in your team, who wore the leader's jersey all the way. And so Kevin Colleoni began to give a more solid thickness to his career, participating in the team victory without ever holding backAt 21, if your name is not Pogacar or Evenepoel, to become great you also need this kind of work, which allows you to put the right kilometers in your legs and day after day grow in conviction and on a physiological level.
"It's tough, it's definitely tough," he said at the start of the third day, the day after the stage and Yates's jersey. "We managed to take the leader's jersey and now we have to check. But I have to say that Seeing Simon arrive on the bus after the victory gave me a lot of morale. Truly an extra gear."
One less weight
If you read it carefully, his call-up for the Italian-Austrian race has the flavour of a promotion on the field. If the UAE Tour and then the Settimana Coppi e Bartali could have been a test without any particular obligations, his presence in the team that should have escorted Yates to victory from the start suggests that In terms of solidity, Kevin has already convinced his new employers.
«In any case, it takes time – he says – because it's a different pace anyway. To stay up the hill with the best, you have to work hard., but being helpful to the team provides an incentive to work with maximum commitment. And all in all having a task to do is one less burden than when in the lower categories I was asked to do the runningHere, helping is the only thing you can do, because you're really going strong and you give your all to help the team."
The condition grows
The next step could see half the spotlight pointed at the Bergamo player who is being trained personally followed by Marco Pinotti, who has been one of the coaches of the Australian team since this year.
«Up until now I have always done 5-day runs – he explains – so when I get home, the training sessions consist of 3-4 days of recovery and then we start againAnd then there are the races. The stage race, for example, gives the conditionsBut it also takes time to recover. And all of this is slowly making me improve. From now on, we'll prepare for longer races, lasting a week, and then we'll see what happens. My next commitment will be the Tour of Hungary and then we'll see if we can do well in the Dauphiné champ.So there will be a break and then the Italians and then we'll talk about the end of the season."
His space
It's too early to assess whether Kevin will be called up for the Vuelta in August, at least he says he has no idea. In any case, the Dauphiné, given the level of the group in these last few weeks, will be undoubtedly a challenging and prestigious step.
«I've been helping Yates so far and I'm fine with that – he says – but I think thatand if the opportunity arises, I will also have my spaceIn the races at the beginning of the year they gave me my freedom, but it's obvious that to have carte blanche, you have to go fast and so there is still a lot of work to be done."
With 19 days of racing and three top-10 finishes at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, Colleoni will now take a breather at home, before competing in the Tour of Hungary from May 12th to 16th. And who knows, maybe he can make his first mark there...
