Il Liberation Grand Prix The "Spring World Championships" are fast approaching. The "Spring World Championships" will return on April 25th, as they were known especially when amateur cycling still existed. Back then, the streets of Rome would pit young Italian and international talent against the Eastern European powerhouses of "state amateurism." Times have changed profoundly, and now the Liberation races (remember that it will be a three-day event full of events, from the 23rd to the 25th) are on the main day reserved for women and Under 23s.
Due to its particular shape with a circuit to be repeated several times, The Lazio race will certainly be an important test also from a national perspective. Marino amadori and Paulo Sangalli, respectively responsible for under 23s and women, have already circled the date in red and will be in Rome to attend the event and take notes. Yes, because 2022 is full of commitments, we will start talking about the national team much earlier than usual.
The Mediterranean Games
In fact, there are not only European and World Championships, but at the end of June there is the appointment of the Mediterranean Games. You might think it's a second-tier all-sports event, but that's not the case in Italy. CONI holds this event very dear and has always asked the federations to bring their best to the event. This is not the case with our usual French rivals, almost always soundly beaten in the medal table but who regularly finish ahead of us, albeit by a narrow margin, as in Tokyo, at the Olympics.
Amadori knows this well and his work, waiting for the season to start with the San Geo Cup, it has already started.
«The Mediterranean Games competition will be on June 30th – he explains – so two months after the Liberation, but this doesn't mean that the Roman event won't provide any indications. I actually consider it a very important event, at the end of which we can make an initial assessment of the situation to understand how many boys will be able to join a large group of players eligible for the national team., which I think could be in the order of fifty names."
A path for those who know how to relaunch
The Italian coach knows the Roman race route very well: "It's a truly unique and special route. Not only because it passes through a setting that no other city in the world can afford, but because technically it lends itself to a thousand solutions, you can never know in advance the plot that the race will interpretThe teams don't have enough men to control the race, so there's free space for fast rouleurs and finishers. So much so that even when the sprint finishes, the groups are quite small compared to the number of starters.
These very characteristics make the Roman race an ideal observatory for those who then need to build a national team that makes logical sense based on the routes of the title races: "We are waiting to know the routes of the various official events, not forgetting that this year's European Championships will be divided between the under-23 and elite categories. Rome's is certainly a good test. I expect riders who know how to relaunch the action on a course that is not very tough, but which gives no respite.Whoever wins the Liberation must necessarily have great courage, one does not triumph by chance at Caracalla..."
Sangalli's reading
On this last point, perhaps due to the difference in strength between women and under-23s, his colleague Paolo Sangalli does not completely agree.
«For the girls – he says – the Liberazione is a very tough route, from the Pyramid you go up and as the laps go by it becomes more and more difficult to relaunchLet's say it's a demanding track, that's the right word. I'm really happy that it's back on the calendar, being a test UCI 1.2 will also have a good turnout. It will be a valid testing ground for the Italian teams not competing in the WorldTour."
No second choice
One of the obstacles to the affirmation of the women's race at the international level is its concurrence with the WorldTour classics; the day before there will be the Liège-Bastogne-Liège which will attract most of the protagonists.
«I will be in Liège – he confirms – but the next day I will also be in Rome, because I don't want to miss that race. For now it's not in the WorldTour, but this in my opinion is a false problem, especially since no race can offer a unique location like Rome. I say the potential for growth is enormous, we just need to give it time."
Concomitance Giro
Sangalli also knows well that the Liberazione can, indeed must, be an important test for the national team's future competitions, starting with the Mediterranean Games.
"It's true that the Algerian route is not yet known," he says, "but the geographical characteristics of the Algerian region suggest it won't be a mountainous route. Therefore, Liberazione will provide very useful responses. Building the national team won't be easy: in 2017 we won the road race with Elisa Longo Borghini and the time trial with Elena Cecchini. However, both will not be there due to the contemporaneity with the Giro d'ItaliaBut we will be competitive, that's for sure, there will be no second choices in the Italian national team."
Sangalli has already made up his mind about the European and World Championships.: «The Monaco race will be quite similar to the Glasgow edition, while for the World Championships I expect a very nervous course. They say it's for sprinters, but with 1.500 meters of elevation gain it means you have to keep up the climbs if you want to be there at the finish».
