Stefano Oldani's Giro d'Italia begins with the confidence brought by his seventh-place finish in Frankfurt just over a week ago. The eve of the Corsa Rosa for the Milanese team Cofidis she passed by with a jog, a quick lunch, and the final preparations that the Giro brings. A look at the bike, some adjustments with the mechanics, a meeting with the nutritionist, and other small things. The evening comes early and you almost don't notice that the most important race of the year is about to begin, at least for Oldani.
«Since December the Line of Business has been highlighted as the main objective of the season." He says on the other end of the line while the line comes and goes, the departure from Albania this is also it. «Together with the team we had included some intermediate stages but the injury at the beginning of the year took a long time to be reabsorbed in the best way».
Fracture, again
At the end of 2023, we talked about Stefano Oldani's desire to challenge himself in a different reality. Leave Alpecin For Cofidis it had the flavour of a bet on itself and its own qualitiesThe fall and fracture of the scaphoid a few months later had slowed the process, but it did not stop it.
«This January, however – Oldani continues – bad luck has played a part againAt the first race of the season, on January 25th, I crashed at the back of the team cars and had to stop again. It was a long stop that required a lot of patience and a bit of composure. At first glance it seemed like a simpler injury, the initial diagnosis was: fracture of the radius.
But that wasn't the case…
The same evening of the fall I wrote to the surgeon who told me operated last year (Dr. Pegoli, ed.). As soon as he saw the x-ray he understood that it wasn't just a fracture of the radius., but the bone was broken in three different places. Furthermore, as if that weren't enough, a fracture of the ulna and scaphoid was also noted. Practically five fractures instead of one.
Did you already understand the seriousness of the injury?
Yes. The post-operative recovery was difficult and added to the awareness that it wouldn't be a walk in the park. Even though I was on painkillers, I would wake up in the middle of the night in pain.Last year with the scaphoid fracture I hadn't suffered so much.
Also because we saw you again as a group at the beginning of April.
I was completely out of action for three weeks, There were supposed to be two but as soon as I started doing the rollers I got a strong gastrointestinal virusI even spent a night in the hospital. In short, I got back on my bike consistently almost a month after the injury. In the meantime, I was doing everything with a brace.
A really slow recovery, why?
The fracture of the ulna did not allow for the insertion of a plate. So the ligaments had to strengthen on their own and for that to happen, on average, it takes six weeksI returned to racing at the Gran Premio Hindurain and then at the Tour of the Basque Country. My coach (Luca Quinti, ed.) was good at understanding how to reset everything in view of the Giro d'ItaliaAfter the races in Spain I spent two weeks at altitude in Sierra Nevada.
You went down and finished seventh in Frankfurt. How important is that result?
Practically not too much, mentally a lot. I didn't start with the goal of doing well but to understand how I was doing.It was a difficult period where for many days I had a delicate routine: training and then treatment and physiotherapyI got up early in the morning and came home at 21pm.
You've been watching the Giro since December. Have you marked any stages?
I don't like to think too long-term, especially in three-week stage races. I saw that there are many mixed stages and this makes me think that I will have plenty of opportunitiesI will monitor the evolution of the race day by day. Being at the Giro is always nice, I am reminded of the victory of Genoa and being here in good shape gives me peace of mind.
We're asking you the same question we asked Zanatta: will you return from the Giro happy if...
I win a stage.
