What does it mean? for a team to have a champion like Jonathan Milan, who wins on the road and even on the track? Days ago Elia Viviani He explained that Ineos's interest in his track medals—the Olympic and World Championships—seemed less impressive than in Rio and Tokyo. It was almost as if the team was happy to give him the time to prepare, but nothing more. Lefevere had already said this previously regarding Alaphilippe's withdrawal from the Tokyo Games: Olympic medals don't bring prestige to clubs. Is this the trend in the WorldTour? We asked Luca Guercilena, general manager of Lidl Trek (Here he is, at the beginning, with Milan and Fabio Cannavaro at a Trek event at the start of the Tour from Florence, Instagram photo).
«We are certainly pleased from a performance point of view – says the Milanese – because If the boy sets goals and achieves them, he certainly acquires a higher level and it is an advantage for everyone. Then, if we talk strictly about what we as a team are able to use when we get results with the national team, I actually have very little to say. Regardless of the athlete's absolute value, which ultimately impacts the club's financial statements, we have the major limitation of not being able to use his images. Ultimately, in the national team you race with national team materials and consequently the real benefit is almost zero if not, in inverted commas, harmful».
Long live the blue jersey, then?
Obviously it's just a matter of image and sponsorship. Then it is obvious that, if we speak from a strictly sporting point of view, having an athlete who has set a world record on the team is a huge advantage. Indeed, I have to admit that we were all there following the race, because we wanted Jonathan to get his resultI can't deny it, the relationships with the national team coaches are excellent. So it's obvious that the pleasure of seeing a world record from one of the guys who runs with us, prepared by our technicians and followed by the national team technicians In a collaboration that leads to results, it's a pleasure. And as an Italian, the Azzurri are always special.
Did you already know when you signed that there would be track days?
Yes, the discussion was very honest. We knew that for him the track was and probably will be something important for the road too.We knew he had commitments that would take him off the road to be available on the track. So, although at some point in the season we might have needed to have him at 100 percent on the road, since the agreement had been discussed previously, we respected it.
From next year, the road will be the priority: in your opinion, as a coach, will his performances benefit from this?
Let's say it will have an advantage to the extent that the preparation will be essentially aimed at certain races. So, especially psychologically, he will have no other goals to achieve and this will certainly create an advantage for himMore psychological than physical, honestly, because in the end, preparing for an Olympics or a World Cup or a track world championship is mostly about mental energy.
Milan won on the road and on the track, they managed these tensions well...
If we make the comparison with 2024, it is clear that as much as you can start the season focusing on the classics, You know that the main objective is the Olympics because it is in your head and because it also involves different types of preparations. So psychologically it's still a burden that athletes have to bear. And moreover, within a rather exasperated cycling, maintaining high psychological tension for 12 months is very demanding.
Is the idea that he can improve? Viviani talked about two years before the next Olympics to win the Ghent and then the Tour, to prove he's the best sprinter in the world...
I wouldn't talk about Ghent, but about the classics in general, because In my opinion Jonathan is an athlete who can do very well even in the big classicsAs for sprints, it's not a given that you have to go to the Tour to prove you're the best sprinter in the world. Ultimately, in my opinion the level of sprinters at the Giro d'Italia was very high and he proved to be one of the strongest, if not the best ever. But I don't see any pressure within the next two years, because I think Jonathan is young and has potential even after Los Angeles. You evaluate an athlete based on his careerSo there are short-term goals, which can certainly be identified with the single race. But overall an athlete is remembered for what he has won throughout his career. So as a team we value that more than a very short-term discussion.
Did you expect to find such a successful Milan?
Yes, in the sense that when we did an analysis to understand which sprinters could grow exponentially, everyone's eyes definitely fell on him. We had seen his path, already before inside the Cycling Team Friuli, where Bressan always does an excellent job with his group. At the same time when he went in Bahrain he has demonstrated excellent skills. And then I don't deny that Villa if he had already told me…
What did he tell you?
He had reported it to me well before last year, saying that it was a boy who was growing steadily and who he thought could have set the world record in pursuitHe told me this, I think, four years ago. I wasn't sure, but when you see an athlete's journey—you know how much they've worked and how much room for improvement there is— expectations are certainly high.
Faced with someone like that, do you sometimes feel like training him yourself or do you have blind faith in his coach?
Yes, absolutely: blind faith. I've been out of touch with certain dynamics for a while now. I'm not saying I wouldn't be able to coach this generation of riders anymore, but Work systems, indexes and analysis software have changed completely. I need a brain rejuvenation in terms of preparation. Then, as always, for someone like me who has been a coach, the pleasure of training a great champion would certainly be there. But you also need to be aware of your own limits.
So you just watch?
I do not deny that, as always, and not only in Johnny's case, when I see something that in my opinion can be improved in the preparation, I'll talk about it with the performance group and maybe try to show them what the next phase of training planning might be.But then I have complete confidence in its and in the other coaches, also because they have proven to be very capable in their work.
