It's not easy for those who spent this season on the flagship of the UAE Emirates, identify a real missed opportunity. Pogačar and his teammates have won practically everything. Yet, when you strive for perfection, some detail always stands out. To tell us about it is Fabio Baldato, one of the sporting directors of the Emirati team.
Everything it happened in the very last races of the season, especially at the Giro del Veneto, but also in part at the Veneto Classic, when Baldato and his team found themselves facing a group that was working against them. Here's how things went, straight from Baldato's own words.
Fabio, we know we're nitpicking, but you called the Giro del Veneto a "missed opportunity." Quotation marks are mandatory with you!
Exactly, the Giro del Veneto. Every time you get an idea before the start: you look at the starters, you analyze the favorites. That morning there were three or four who stood out, over all Caden Groves and Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Corbin Strong, of the Israel Premier Tech. From there you begin to understand who might move in the race and who will wait. We were the UAE Emirates, with over 80 victories to his name and Hirsch in the race, which was among the favorites, even if rightly in decline after such an intense summer.
And he wasn't the only one who was your point man…
Yes, Ulissi and Vine were there too. But it was a race suited to a fast, very fast rider. The total elevation gain was 1.800-1.900 meters. Long story short, we decide to keep an eye on Israel and Alpecin. A breakaway starts, but no one moves. So we start pulling. we had Giaimi, a young man from our development team, who did an excellent job. At a certain point, I approached Israel's car and asked for help, but they replied: "You win, you do everything." What were we to do? If we let the breakaway go, he'd take 15 minutes and the race was lost.
Clear…
Especially considering it's a race I care deeply about, as a true Venetian. So we monitor the situation, and in the finale both Ulissi and Vine try to make the race tough. But the course wasn't selective enough: in the end, a group of about thirty riders arrived. We, having spent more energy than the others, We had to settle for fifth place with Hirschi. Looking back, perhaps I wouldn't bother controlling the race. It's a situation that's happened to us several times at the end of the season, even when we didn't have the number one favorite.
Why?
Precisely because this year we've won everything and more. We've often found ourselves in a position where, if we didn't push, the race would go to the breakaway. At the Giro del Veneto, I was leading with Marcato's support. A similar dynamic was repeated at the Veneto Classic, directed instead by Marcato with my support.
And how did it go there?
At the Veneto Classic, the breakaway arrived from afar. Sure, there were some top-level riders, but we also started to control things later. The other teams were waiting for us, and there was a long period of waiting and tactical play, especially with the Groupama-FDJ, who then came second with GregoireEven then we found ourselves pulling, even though we weren't the main favorites. Ulissi, our director, had immediately understood the importance of that escape and had consulted us in the flagship, but in the end we waited over 100 kilometers before taking action.
There is…
Yes, I would too if I were on the other side. After a season like this, I understand the others. We had a laugh with the Israel sports director at the end of the Giro del Veneto. And we weren't even under enormous pressure… up to a certain point.
In what sense?
At the beginning of the year we set ourselves the goal of raising the bar: to be the best team in the world, to score points. After the Tour it was clear that we would win the UCI ranking, but at that point We also wanted to break the record for wins in a single year: 84, set by Team Columbia HTC in 2009. Between Cavendish, Boasson Hagen, and other sprinters, they won 84 races. We stopped at 81.
It's also a question of stimuli, though. Nice like that, isn't it?
When you're there, you care about breaking records. The great thing is that the motivation remained high until the end. Thanks also to Matxin, who knows how to make everyone count. And then, when you have leaders like Pogacar or Hirschi, you know that teamwork can achieve something great. I remember a Sanremo where, working for Petacchi, I started pulling before the Cipressa and managed to do so all the way to the Poggio. Probably, if I had raced for myself, I would have dropped away much earlier. A self-confidence mechanism is triggered which allows you to perform at your best.
IN PREVIOUS ARTICLES
The Missed Opportunity: Cozzi, Tudor, and the Giro d'Abruzzo
The Missed Opportunity: Zanatta and Pietrobon's Escape to Lucca
