The return of Andrea Piccolo had provoked many reactions, all positive and almost stunned. The rapid climbing which took the young rider from the absolute nothingness of the Gazprom case to Drone hopper and finally to the EF Education Easy Post It demonstrated the athlete's prowess. Add to this the fact that it happened in just 24 days of racing, from June 26th to October 16th, and it becomes even more difficult to understand and explain.
A few days ago it was Pino Toni to explain to us how exceptional there is in this boy, who as a junior had the sign of talent tattooed on him. Some vicissitudes have tried to take him away, but an athlete of this caliber is capable of returning to the main roadPino Toni took Piccolo in May and hasn't let go of him since, even now that the WorldTour will be his home.
The words of the trainer
The young Lombard Pino Toni had read the words as soon as they were published, so when we asked him to comment on them with us, everything became much easier.
«These are words and opinions – says Piccolo – that we had already said to each other in private, It's certainly a pleasure to be described like this even in public, it means that Pino really believes in it. He knows a lot about this world, he has a lot of experience gained in different teams, matured over many years so it certainly caught our eye».
You started working, but when did you first meet?
In March I left the Carera family and joined Giuseppe Acquadro. At that time, I was leaving Gazprom and they introduced me to Pino.
How was it getting to the current season?
We talked a lot and the discussion yielded some interesting insights. From his point of view I think he was good at taking a rider who was already trained and immediately finding the right path to work on.. He started following me when I was doing my Tour of Italy At home, one hundred hours of training in 21 days. It was the answer to that difficult moment; I found motivation by setting myself a personal goal.
Pino told us that his surprise came at the Italian championship, it was your first race after months and you came fourth.
The biggest difficulty I had when I started working with Pino was the threshold. Having not run for a long time, I wasn't able to produce the kind of effort that only comes to you while running.To make up for this shortcoming, we have done a lot behind the scenes.
It worked, didn't it?
The work I did certainly helped me a lot, but running is another thing. At a certain point in the race I was better on the climbs than on the flatsGoing full speed uphill when you're racing or training is the same thing, you can't go above a certain speed. On the flat, however, it's completely different. because you can only do fifty miles an hour while runningYou also have to be trained to handle those frequencies at that speed.
You ran a lot in a short time, jumping from one race to another…
That was exactly the goal, do a lot of races and train as little as possible, this for a couple of months. At the end of this period I was supposed to take a break to train better and raise the bar.2022 was the year of my return to racing. It didn't matter where or how, it was essential to get back to attacking the number.
What will 2023 be like? Pino said he had to go talk to the EF staff…
Now the goal is to return to racing with a criterion, looking for results in certain races. The calendar and work programs will be more definedI can already say that the Ardennes Classics could be interesting. It will be really important to plan, and racing has helped me a lot. but if I want to raise the bar even higher I will also have to pay a lot of attention to my home workoutsGreat riders do that, look at Vingegaard, he doesn't race for two months but then shows up for the races ready.
How did returning to the WorldTour make you feel?
Calm, are happy to be here but I don't feel pressureI do everything to the best of my ability, and if I put my all into the things I do, I can't complain about anything.
Training with awareness is fundamental, you know how to do this.
Nowadays, if you don't know how to train at home, it's difficult to stay at your best. All top riders train well and arrive ready for races. For me, cycling is a passion, so I don't mind doing many hours of training or specific work.Today (Tuesday, ed.) it snowed where I live and to avoid wasting the day I did two sessions on the rollers. Obviously you have to work in the right way, and having Pino by my side allows me to think that I am doing it.
What kind of relationship did you develop with him?
Now I feel like I can say that he is part of me and I hope to work with him for many years. It gave me so much confidence and great motivation, and for that I thank him.
