On Sunday of the tricolour victory of Filippo Conca a strange thing happened. Almost contemporaneously with the success of the rider of the Swat Club, judged by many media (without taking anything away from his very valiant undertaking) as the certification of the serious state of crisis of Italian cycling, Italy's athletics team confirmed its position on the continental throne of the European team championships, the trophy that defines the state of health of the entire movement.
Why is this curious? Because if we look back just ten years or so, the situation was exactly the opposite. Italian cycling was still an international benchmark, while in athletics, every international event was a disappointment, with athletes returning home empty-handed. So what was the recipe that allowed the "queen of sports" to climb the ranks and become the undisputed benchmark again? And is it a recipe that can be exported to two-wheelers as well?
The gap between the top and the territory
To find some answers we put two characters face to face who, at different times, played the role of the city manager in their respective roles, Max Magnani for athletics and Daniele bennati for cycling. Ten years ago, Magnani was leading the national athletics team, and he remembers well the situation he faced: "I realized that the main problem was a complete disconnect between top-level athletics and the grassroots. The coaching system needed to be completely rebuilt, that of the peripheral coaches who discover young talents and begin to nurture them through hard work.It was necessary to decentralize by creating work centers closer to the territory, so that technicians could also interact."
This is a first fundamental aspect: working on the technical system. «There must be ongoing and significant cultural development for those who work with young people. Technicians must have the opportunity to update themselves and engage with the world around them.During my time as national coach, I took 429 coaches to international competitions. I pushed hard to keep everyone up to date, because the world of sport is constantly changing and you never stop learning. Those kids who were supported back then were able to benefit from the work of their coaches and became the champions we are today, the envy of the whole world.
An exportable system, but it is not easy to do so
Is such a system exportable? "The recipe could work," Bennati replies, "but we must take into account, among the various differences between the two sports, one in particular. Athletics takes place in facilities, in complete safety. Cycling pays a heavy price for the tragedies that, unfortunately, occur almost daily on our roads with cyclists hit.Not enough is being done in this regard, and parents are worried and reluctant to send their children to train on the streets. We're going through a lean period because of this, too.
«The system mentioned by Magnani is correct and certainly requires a technical overhaul.During my time with the national team, I worked with technicians who had been doing this job since I was a kid, applying theories that were all right back then, but in the meantime, things have changed, cycling has evolved. If you tell a kid, "This is how things were done in my day," they won't even listen to you..."
A long-term process
Magnani emphasizes how this process can work if you don't rush: «It's long-term, the results will be seen after years. It's a virtuous system, in the sense that it brings results but also replacements behind the champions.Today we have many stars at the international level, but we know that behind them there are just as many young people who are growing and who can do just as much, if not more. Precisely because we have acted not on individual cases and specialties, but by reforming the entire structure."
"In cycling, things are complex," Bennati replies, "because it's a discipline where it's hard to wait. When I was racing you had the U23 category which was really an apprenticeship period, today you see 20 year old riders winning big races and you are looking for increasingly younger talents.But to find them, to create capable riders, we need coaches with an open mind, who know how to keep pace with the changes in the world around them."
Reviewing the relationship with youth clubs
It is also important who takes care of the relationship with these kids, starting with the clubs and the agents: «Two important figures, who deserve particular attention – underlines Magnani – in the first case, when an athlete achieves results at an absolute level and changes club, part of the sum goes to the club where his talent blossomed and this helps the club to continue its proselytism workAs for agents, there too it's a job with a long-term perspective: seeking out young talent and signing them can be a good thing, as long as you don't focus on immediate gain, but rather help those who work to help them improve. Then, with their success, the huge commissions will also come.
«As far as cycling agents are concerned – Bennati intervenes – this is already normally the case. It's true that nowadays young people are even hired in the student category, but initially there is no gain, not even when a rider lands in a I have to team upIf and when he manages to turn pro, then the contract will start to work. The issue regarding the clubs is more complex.
Changing the culture and… knowing how to wait
«We need to consider that we need to overturn a cultural substratum but also an actual situation, because a youth club lives on sponsors and they want to see results. For this reason, we focus too much on results in the youth sector and whoever wins advances, while we should look at a broader spectrum, the possibilities of growth of a boyThe percentage system for signing the contract could work, but the Federation has to get involved there and it's not easy."
On one point, the two former city officials agree: it takes time to get feedback. "As an enthusiast," Magnani says, I can say that in cycling it is essential that there is a cultural update that follows the evolution of the times, because the kids today are profoundly different from those of twenty years ago. Technical updating, their growth through comparison with other schools, and the same progressive assumption of responsibility even as team leaders is a fundamental step, which will bring benefits if we know how to wait."
«The cycling world must demonstrate this ability today – Bennati replies – but let's realize that today cycling has, for the reasons mentioned above, less appeal than other disciplines even if the figures that are circulating are not those of my time. It's clear, however, that it needs a shake-up, to return to what it once was...".
