While the images of the Straight through Flanders, speaking with Pozzato about Flanders on Sunday, it was almost natural to review the names of the contenders for the race that the Vicenza native has often come close to but never reached. Until suddenly Van Aert crashed with 67 kilometres to go and at that point the conversation took another direction.It was clear almost immediately that the Belgian was injured, so when confirmation of his broken collarbone and two broken ribs arrived that evening, the point seemed even more poignant.
"Sunday would have been another slap-and-slap race with Van Der Poel," Pozzato said. "It's a shame. But I want to say this. When I saw that Van Aert skipped Sanremo, I remained a littleWhy not do it? Then I saw that he also wanted to do Liège and the Giro, so he opted for a different schedule. But now that it's fallen, it's thrown away the springThis year he changed trainers: we also had to see how he would perform on Sunday. I really like Van Aert, but in the first few outings he didn't give me any great impressions. Van der Poel had already seemed stronger. Maybe the new program is a gamble. I don't know if I would have had the heart to skip Sanremo».
Meanwhile Van Aert was sitting on the asphalt (top, Eurosport image), the torn shirt on the back and that sense of defeat sewn onto me for the umpteenth timeSonny Colbrelli, busy with another interview, made it known that the point of the crash on the Kanarieberg road is so fast and dangerous that it has been removed from the Flanders route. At the time of the crash, Van Aert was going 90 km/h.And while Wout was groaning on the asphalt, at the head of the race his teammate Jorgenson was about to win his first Northern Classic.
The 2012 hoax
It was clavicle then too, in 2012, when Pozzato returned to the saddle ten days after his crash at the Tour of QatarHe had spent the winter dreaming and planning Flanders, with Scinto at his side to give him the rhythm and the nagging. It seemed like a stretch, but Pippo went to Flanders and came in second.He botched the finale. And even though he could have tried to drop Boonen, he preferred to risk the three-man sprint with the Belgian and Ballan. And he came home with a bothersome and mocking second place.
"For me, the Tour of Flanders," he continues, putting aside his thoughts on Van Aert for a moment, "has always been the race of my dreams, the most beautiful in the world. I always tell everyone that, and it's definitely my biggest regret. Since then, the whole world of cycling has changed. The way we approach races and train has changed. The way athletes approach the day and the race. The entire cycling system has changed. Boonen also attacked from afar at times, but never with 100 kilometres to go.Sometimes in Harelbeke they liked to start on Taaienberg at minus 80, as happens now, but it was different. At Tirreno-Adriatico and Sanremo, they did a record average. There are the materials, certainly, but I think that there is a very high level that makes it much more difficult to win today than it once wasIn fact, the same people always win, whereas before even in important races an outsider could come along. Now It's unlikely that an unknown vehicle will arrive if there are 4-5 stronger ones around.. One of them always wins."
This is also because the level of the teams has increased.
Everyone, everyone, everyone. The level is very high. There are those three or four who are out of category, they play another sportWhen they're there, you start from fourth place onwards. Behind them, you have a group of 40-50 who all go the same way, so the level is much higher. See how they sprint now? They go so fast that they all more or less stay in the same position.It's rare to see someone coming from behind and moving up 4-5 positions like maybe happened in the early 2000s. Nowadays they take the sprint at 70 miles an hour and continue at 72-73. Look at the gear ratios they have, the thing that shocks me is the relationships they use.
Certainly there has been a big step forward athletically…
Absolutely. The preparations have changed. Then there are always the slightly ignorant ones who insinuate and ask what they're doing now. The beauty is that they don't do anythingThey have better equipment, they're all equally prepared athletically. They all eat perfectly, and Armstrong no longer arrives like years ago and eats a hamburger before leaving. Now everyone knows how to do it and then, in my opinion, the human species has evolvedToday's generations are stronger than those of before.
The level is so high that running training is impossible: we have stopped going slowly.
I remember that in 2010 I asked to run all the time so I wouldn't have to train at home. I finished the year with 102 days of running, which is now impossible.I needed to get to Sanremo seeing that I had done a certain number of days of running, better 3 more than one less. Now these are coming from the winter and the first day they attack the number, either you are prepared and go like them, otherwise you get a sting in the neckThe guys I talk to tell me they're scary. They come in two or three months after not running and they do 80 kilometers of escape, like Pogacar at the Strade BiancheBut there's a catch…
Would be?
He was able to do it that way because there was no one of his level, so it seemed even more impressive. If there had been 2-3 of his phenomenal colleagues, surely four of them would go away, then they would slap each other in the final and maybe they would break away on the last piece or on the TolfePogacar, who starts with 81 kilometers to go, makes it seem like he's racing in a different category. Like now at Catalunya, where none of his rivals were there and it seemed like he was playing. Like Vingegaard at TirrenoIf you take Van Der Poel to a one-day race, even Flanders, and none of the others are there, he circles the peloton.
Do you think that in Van Aert's absence, Alaphilippe could be at the level of the best in Flanders?
I was really sad that Sagan was on the decline in the last two years, and Julian too. I think they would have been great too... ignorant enough to be slapped around all day. It would have been so much fun to see them in the classicsCan Alaphilippe be a beacon on Sunday? He's definitely not the same as before, and the situation in the team is... with Lefevere it's not idyllic. He is actually paid for the results he achieved before. And as a manager, I can understand that at certain times, feelings and romance end, because you look at the bottom line. And maybe you think that with the same money you could sign two or three other good riders who get results. Julian, on the other hand, doesn't win anymore and the spell is broken.
Who knows if at his best he would be competitive with Van der Poel or Pogacar and even Van Aert in certain classics…
My feeling is that he's strong, but the others have more powerful engines than him. Pedersen, in my opinion, is also a good rider. Yesterday I was talking to a trainer from Soudal-Quick Step and it was argued that they They went to high altitude to prepare for the classics and on the way back they didn't go as they had hoped. Instead the riders of the Lidl Trek They remained at sea level, they are 28-30-32 years old and they are flying. Perhaps we should think that the altitude is now suitable for stage races and no longer for the classics.These are delicate things, which always change. We were talking about Van Aert who changed trainers. He wanted to start slower to go faster in his races, but instead he crashed and now it's a big problem. And It would have been even if, under normal circumstances, he had arrived at Flanders and Roubaix and had not won.
How will you follow Flanders?
I've been going to Belgium every year since 2019, and it'll be the same this year. I'll be going up with a few clients. On Saturdays we do the Gran Fondo. On Friday evening we have dinner with Thomas (Van der Spiegel, ed.), the CEO of Flanders Classics. On Sunday we go to the start, then we see them in 2-3 other places, then to the hospitality on Quaremont for two passages and then to the finishFor me it's the most beautiful race. This year a dear friend from Milan who lives in Monaco is coming and he's very excited, because I told him that to find something cooler, you have to go watch the Superbowl finalI'm sorry Van Aert won't be there because it would have been a different show...
