ASCOLI PICENO – Ceci arrives on a red Caballero 700, wearing Bermuda shorts and a black jersey. He finished his shift at the Marino del Tronto super prison And after a quick stop by the house, he accepted the invitation for coffee. The city is hot, although in the last few days, a few showers of rain have tried to cool the air.
«Congratulations to Davide and Lorenzo – says Ceci first of all – they were great. They went for a medal and succeeded in the first assault. They deserved every round of applause!
Two days ago, on August 28th, the Paris Paralympics, which will continue until September 8th. And yesterday Davide Plebani and Lorenzo Bernard won the bronze medal in the pursuit. Commenting on the result, coach Perusini was very clear. He praised the two Italians for their rapid progress. He then pointed out the technological gap in bicycles. Finally, He dedicated the bronze to all the boys who have been on the track in the last year and have achieved results at the world championships in Rio, but I'm not in Paris due to the limited number of slots.
The most illustrious excluded due to the limited number of places are: Francesco Ceci and Stefano Meroni, as well as Elena Bissolati and Chiara Colombo who won a historic gold medal in the Mixed Tandem Team Sprint at the World Championships in Brazil. And even though this is the time to cheer on their national teammates, it's understandable that the exclusion has stung. And that's probably why, Silvano Perusini he felt like making that dedication. There is no desire to feel sorry for oneself or to attackSome things just can't be changed. What's important to the sprinter from the Marche region is the chance to resume training soon. In fact, speed tandems have not competed since the World Championships in Rio.In Montichiari, there was only time for a training camp in May, during which the names of those who would go to Paris were also announced. Since then, everything has been on hold.
Were you aiming for Paris?
On a personal level, we were counting on it a lot and we knew we had the right age and the chance to aim for a medalWe started working together a year ago and the good thing is that we got good results right away. We are both two working athletes, so we get ready after we finish our shiftsYou can imagine what it was like to train on the rollers and in the gym in the winter. Maybe you'd do a couple of hours on the road, knowing that the workouts are completely different than on the track.
And yet the results came anyway…
In addition to the victory in Olympic sprint, in the kilometre we qualified with the fourth fastest time, two and a half tenths from the silver medalAnd then in the final we finished fifth, seven tenths of a second away from a medal. We had a problem with our bike at the start, but we couldn't stop for a second start. So we continued straight away, improving our time by seven tenths compared to the previous year. So, looking ahead to Paris, I think we had a chance to do well.
When do you train with Meroni?
When there are schoolchildren on the track. He lives in Lurago d'Erba, we're a six-hour drive apart. After the World Cup, we continued to train hard, until they gave us the news that we wouldn't be going. Obviously the choices are accepted, they are not discussed. And since we were told that our project will have to bear the best fruits in Los Angeles 2028, Let's hope we can actually continue working by then. Let's move our goals to the long term.
Do you root for the other Azzurri?
I wrote a message in the WhatsApp group wishing everyone good luck. Unfortunately, there are only a few of us on the track, as we only have Claudia Cretti, plus Davide and Lorenzo, who have already won medals. And I repeat: they were amazing! We hope that the final balance will be excellent, to give impetus to the sectorIf we start to create a historic presence in the track sector, the whole movement will automatically grow. I hope that we can continue this work, so that at the next World Cup we can think about going to win a titleIn one year, the entire movement has grown. We've achieved excellent results, and our world title has received a lot of publicity. It's a shame that we still don't know when and where the next ones will be held..
Perusini spoke of huge margins for us on the track.
And he's right. Obviously countries like Great Britain, France, Germany and Holland are far aheadParalympians use the same bikes as "normal" riders, and that makes a difference. We started a year and a half ago and are racing with an aluminum tandem. We've worked to improve it, and we've achieved some improvements, but the carbon tandems of other teams are still more efficient.
How is your business going now?
We are waiting to know the calendars, because there are no races for us. The important thing would be to give continuity to the work in order to grow. It's not lost on me that all countries are looking for elite athletes to boost their tandems. At the World Championships, I found myself with other sprinters I used to compete with in sprint tournaments years ago. So, at a certain point, the affinity between the pair becomes crucial. We talk to Stefano often on the phone. He's 37 years old and started from scratch. He'd never done certain workouts in the gym, so to get to those levels he put in perseverance and commitment. We also know what we need to improve in the kilometer.
What?
We saw that we lose a lot in the first lap and a half. We need to work on maximum strength, explosive strength and starting techniqueBut we have to do it together. Right now, each of us is working on ourselves, so that when we meet again, we'll start from a higher level. We talk often, sometimes we argue. I am very tough and sometimes I call him on the work to be doneI'm happy, because I think it's the right way. I told him from the beginning that when we're on the national team, we're two athletes competing for a goal. So, regardless of the conditions we work in, we have to give our bestWe both know it and we can do it.
You were part of the Fiamme Azzurre sports group: do you think that if you were still there, you would have been able to shave off those seven tenths that separated you from a medal at the Rio World Championships?
I think with the utmost serenity that the medal was within reach, if we had invested in the mechanical means as in every discipline and if we had had the time to prepare ourselves as best as possibleWith more retreats and investing in ourselves, having the possibility of going to the Olympics in front of us. If I had rejoined the sports group immediately after the Glasgow World Cup, perhaps in Brazil the medal would have arrived, given that in qualifying we were two and a half tenths away from silver. There is time, that is the value. We only need the final finishing touches, considering that there are huge steps and huge margins for growth given by objective aspects, which can be modified with a minimum of effort on the part of everyone.
So what do you hope for when the Paralympics are over?
That the UCI changes the new calendars immediately and we can get back to work, having four years ahead of us to get to Los Angeles in the best possible wayTraining during work breaks isn't easy, considering others are just athletes. If you compete on Sunday and go to the office the next day, you can't recoverAnd if you work out in the evening after work, you'll be tired by the time you get there. Despite everything, I have to thank my institute for allowing me to do it. You do it when you know it's worth it, knowing that it means removing everything else from your life.It makes sense for an Olympics. But we're not like other athletes who, if they don't run on the track, have to run on the road. We only have the trackAnd right now what's scary is the emptiness we see ahead.
