Do you remember that day when you kicked yourself over a situation that could have been handled better? Cozzi, Today it's Stefano Zanatta's turn, sporting director of the Polti-Kometa team, and his memory goes straight to the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia, with Andrea Pietrobon third at the finish lineCould we have won? With a bit of luck, perhaps. It's not an opportunity to complain about, except against bad luck and the opponents who never gave an inch.
«Bais had entered the breakaway before – says the rider from Treviso, who was strongly wanted on the flagship by Ivan Basso – but the sprinters' teams left no room. Then Andrea went and maybe with a little more luck, the season would change».
The stage ran from Genoa to Lucca, covering 178 kilometers, 78 of which were completed in a breakaway by Pietrobon. The peloton would tackle the Bracco Pass at the start and the Montemagno da Camaiore at the finish. The team wanted to break away: it is the racing philosophy with which in his early years he brought home the victory of the Zoncolan with Fortunato And that of Bais at Campo Imperatore.
Should we have escaped that day too?
The idea was to have some one in from the start and we had identified Mattia BaisFor us, trying is a leitmotif. We force them to think outside the box, to do things no one expects. Whoever runs with us must also be willing to do things that are technically incorrect.There's only one who sprints up the hill and finishes, we have to run differently. And Pietrobon's escape that day in Lucca gave us the morale to try againFor example, to make it go Masters on the run with Alaphilippe.
So first Bais and then Pietrobon?
Exactly. And when after the climb he saw two Frenchmen starting off, Benjamin Thomas and Enzo Paleni, he jumped in. Mattia had done his part, it was Andrea's turn, and I must say he did everything perfectly. We knew that Thomas was stronger, so we told him to try the 800 meters.You're in the final stages of the stage. You've been riding for several kilometers at 50 miles an hour with the peloton trailing at 45 seconds. If you start with a kilometer to go, you're likely to hold out. If you start early, you'll get stuck. He got off to a good start. There was a semi-curve and he could hold certain speeds, I know my rider. But the man of the Groupama (Paleni, ed.) didn't give up an inch and put him in his sights. Who knows if Andrea had kept his hands under…
Did it change anything?
I see that Nowadays everyone tends to lower the handlebars to be aerodynamic, but then they can't get off, so they keep their hands on the brake levers. Andrea's style is good, but he's one of those who keeps his hands on the brakes. Maybe if he had kept them under, he would have been more aerodynamic in those few meters. Or, on the contrary, he would not have had the power he needed. They certainly didn't let up at the back.
And in the end they took it back…
But three of them arrived, he had done the right thing. Thomas won, then Valgren and then him. Paleni followed at 3 seconds and then Milan who won the group sprint at 11 seconds. On the bus we felt a bit like a missed opportunity, but we congratulated him. Pietrobon did everything very well. He tried where we told him to try. What did you want to say to him?
