There is nothing easy, Martina Alzini said yesterday. This is why when Vittoria Guazzini's already weak voice tone drops further and becomes a whisper, we understand how hard it is to achieve certain results and how the smile after a gold medal masks everything well, but doesn't erase anythingWe were talking about Martha Cavalli and how the constant restarting from accidents took away her desire to move forward and suddenly Even the Tuscan admits having to deal with similar sensationsShe has always had some setbacks over the last three years, but never like the one in the last Italian championship.
«Let's say that this time – he says – I really didn't expect it. I hadn't considered the possibility of falling, even though in cycling it can actually happen at any moment.But maybe it was because the season hadn't gone very well up until that point. During the training camp we had, I had worked really hard to focus on the summer and everything had gone well. Two days before the Italian road race, I had gone fast in the time trial, which I was motivated for. Then it went like this and let's say it wasn't easy. At first I didn't want to hear about jumping back on the bike, so I got on the rollers and thought about this blessed European time trialMaybe I thought about it too much, so much so that when I got there I actually didn't have any left. It's not easy to manage every time you have to leave. It's happened to me many times, but this one was hard."
In Chile as in the Olympics
No vacation for Guazzini, but being a witty girl, she says you never know what she'll do in a few days. Maybe she'll go out for a coffee and they won't see her again for two weeks. And then the conversation continues, starting with... world track championships in Chile, which also allowed her to recover from her fall and give a final meaning to the season.
"We really cared about this World Championship," he says, "even though it didn't give you Olympic qualification points, which will start with next year's World Championships. But track is something we like and we're happy to do, so we also found some extra motivation to try to redeem the season. Each one had her own reasons, I think, but the important thing is that no one backed down and we went there as if we were, so to speak, at the Olympics. With the right spirit and commitment."
Among the men, all the best track athletes have dedicated themselves to the road. You competed in the European Championships at the beginning of the year and won them, and then you won the world championships. And in Chile, you also took bronze in the Madison...
It depends on the schedule and how the team and I reach an agreement at the beginning of the year. I think for us it depended on our willingness to go. From the beginning we always said that we would finish the season in Chile and so it was.The team pursuit and the Madison are the two disciplines I like the most. When we are at Montichiari, the works we do are focused on the quartetThe gold medal in Paris in the Madison was a surprise to a certain extent, but that emotion was so illogical, I don't even know the words to express it. That said, for me they are equally valid. The quartet is an adrenaline rush, four minutes in which everything is concentrated and then you lift your head to see the scoreboardThe other day they fired two shots at really close range. And when I looked up and saw that we were in front, it was truly a relief.
How much does it hurt you to have fallen so often over the last three years?
As for the Italian fall, on the one hand I'm sorry, on the other hand, you have to think that things went well for me, so I try to take the positive sideI was in good shape, I'd had a good training camp at altitude with the team to prepare for the Giro and the Tour, and then it was difficult to regain the concentration to start again. Perhaps having these World Championships at the end of the year helped me. I said: "I want to be there and I also want to do well for myself and my teammates."The year before I had had a year without any major falls and I won the OlympicsSo if there really was a chance of falling and getting hurt, it's better if it happened this year (laughs, ed.) and not in 2024.
As you said first, we need a gold medal in the time trial now, even if they organize climber courses…
After the quartet I said that The track is my passion, but I would like to make a qualitative leap on the road tooI definitely have to keep working on it and take it as a goal, but it's also difficult to have a world championship as a goal if the path is prohibitive. The World Cup in Rwanda was never an objective regardless of the fall, Because it was objectively too tough for my characteristics. I never saw it as a motivation. The European Championships, on the other hand, was a good course, but, as I was saying, after the crash there were a few ups and downs, and it went as it did (Guazzini was 12th in the time trial and played her part in the Italians' silver medal in the team relay, ed.). I'm happy at least to have recovered and finished well on the track.
What's the mood like in the quartet? Venturelli has joined, while other girls like Balsamo have devoted themselves mostly to the street...
It is understandable that if anyone wanted to dedicate themselves more to the road, they did it this yearNo one has ever judged these choices, which often also depend on the teams. I personally didn't want to give up the track, because It's also good for me mentally to unwind a bitIn the quartet, for better or for worse, we're still the same. We've seen the boost Venturelli's entry has given us, so she's welcome (laughs again, ed.). Just as the doors are always open if anyone else wants to come back.
Does the track benefit your mind or does it also give you advantages on the road?
We've been used to doing certain things on the track, which perhaps we don't do on the road. None of us has to win on Mont Ventoux, so It's likely that the faster girls will benefit on the road from the strength work or change of pace they can do on the trackIt's also useful for me for time trials when I do some work behind the bike with Villa or Bragato. It's not like when we go to the track, we just do the four kilometers. There is also a lot of collaboration between the technicians, who listen to our needs..
You mentioned Ventoux, which will be the summit that decides the Tour next year. Do you plan to be there?
The Tour is on another level, without taking anything away from the other races. It has a media impact that is unparalleled. I know that for my team it is the big goal of the season and there are the athletes to go and do well.If I do get back on track, I'll try to be ready, like I would have been this year, because honestly, before I crashed, I was going really fast. If that doesn't happen, I'll go wherever they send me and I'll be just as motivated.
