In the last Australian event of the WorldTour calendar, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, we witnessed a solo breakaway of Andrea Raccagni Noviero (opening photo Chris Auld). The grown-up boy of the I have to team up of Soudal Quick-Step who this year arrived in the professional world, always wearing the same jersey. The debut among the big ones came in Australia, from which he returned a few days agoNow he's having to deal with the Italian climate, which certainly doesn't allow him to train in shorts.
"I was hoping it wouldn't rain today," he tells us over the phone early in the morning. "But I'll have to wait a little longer to go out on my bike. Training hasn't been easy in the past few days either. I'd say things were better in Australia."
Anticipate
La Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race it was won by Mauro Schmid, Swiss national champion, who crowned a courageous and consistently attacking start to the season. The race, before entering the final phase, featured Andrea Raccagni Noviero. The Ligurian showed off his skills with a 115-kilometer solo breakaway, a long journey experienced alone between the coast and the Australian outback.
«It wasn't the idea of the day – says the protagonist of the action – we started with the same riders as the Tour Down Under, like all the other teams. We knew that on a course like that we would have a hard time asserting ourselves.The decision was to find other solutions to reach the finish. We knew it would be a tough race if the wind picked up, and we wanted to stay ahead to make a selection. Arriving at the foot of the final climb would have doomed us., in fact Schmid proved to be the strongest but it had been seen from the days before".
You ran away, alone…
As soon as we set off, we had 120 completely flat kilometers ahead of us and the group had settled into a really easy pace. So I tried a stretch, I pushed a little and after a minute I turned around and there was already a void, I must have had about thirty seconds on the group. The problem was that since we didn't have our flagships behind us, the radios were different., they had a limited range. After the first sprint I could no longer hear the flagship.
So you went straight ahead?
I knew I had about fifteen kilometers ahead of me on a very wide road with a crosswind. I said to myself: "At worst, if some fans start, I'm already in a good position."I continued to maintain my pace, which didn't seem too fast. The first time the motorcycle relay reached me and showed me the timesheet, I was two and a half minutes ahead of the group.
Let's say no one in the group had accepted your invitation.
No, I would say no (laughs, ed.). At the beginning I was fine, I did races with much higher average valuesThe thing that made me suffer the most was the heat, I had never run in such temperatures. The thermometer never dropped below 40 degrees Celsius. In the end I took up the challenge with the goal of making it to the final circuit.
And instead?
Ten kilometers into the circuit, my legs completely seized up. From that moment on, I sank, and the group swallowed me up.
What was it like being on the run alone, with no radio contact whatsoever?
At first the wind was favorable on the coast. Before entering the hinterland you passed through small towns with lots of people who stopped to watch, so it was nice. There were also lots of people coming up from the beach in their swimsuits to watch the race pass. I admit I was a little envious of them given the temperatures!
Then you left the coast.
Once we turned inland, everything became less pleasant: the headwind was strong and it also felt like being inside an oven. I kept going to the support bike to get water bottles, I poured water on myself to cool down and after five minutes I was dry again.
Have you had a chance to look up and around?
I had already seen those streets during training because we stayed in a hotel on the coast for a week, all the teams were in the same building. The landscape is exactly as you imagine it, beautiful but very different from hereOne thing I noticed, since I'm used to seeing the sea, is that We are used to small beaches with lots of people while there are huge beaches with few people.
Mentally, how difficult was it to ride alone for all that time, or was it like training?
No no completely different. Fewer personal thoughts go through your head and you are focused on the race, even though I was pedaling at a sustainable pace I had to stay focused and motivated. I tried to stay focused and take care of every detail., for example I tried to find the most aerodynamic position possible.
What watts did you keep?
Normally I know I can average 300 watts in a race, even a little more. So I calibrated myself to those numbers. On the plains I was around 300 watts., while I was pushing up to 400 watts on the steep climbs. The strange thing is that I didn't explode, but rather slowly wore myself out. At a certain point, my legs locked up. At the end of the day, back at the hotel, The team doctor came to talk to me and told me that I should lower my watts by at least 20 percent.. It will be useful to me in the future.
What was it like experiencing all the races in Australia, especially for you as a new professional?
It's nice because you start running in mid-January and for two weeks you always see the same riders. Then the fact that we were all in the same hotel last time means we're used to seeing each other everywhere.In the elevator, at dinner, in the mechanics' tent. I even talked about it with my teammates, telling them that maybe the race was more boring for me because I didn't know who to talk to; there weren't many 2004 neo-pros.
Have you exchanged any words with anyone?
With Jacopo Fly, even on the return trip. He has a house in Liguria and is friends with some of the guys who train with me.
Did he tell you anything about the solo escape?
When the group caught up with me he was in front managing the pace, he asked me, “Did you have fun?” I told him yes, but it wasn't true (laughs, ed.).
You kept him trained for the Sanremo, a different landscape but still between sea and coast…
True! Even if for the Sanremo He still needs to add a few more kilometers.
