«At a certain point I started making pizza, to give meaning to my days. I wanted to buy my bike back without asking my parents for money. I needed it because I wanted to get back to racing. I'm not a doper – Innocenti clearly states – I've never been at the limitIf I had been like that, I wouldn't have had this desire to come back. Everyone said they would give me six months at most, so when I turned 4 it was hard.. It's the time of a high school, a career as an under-23. A life. I've thought many times about the passing of timeI couldn't sleep for a month. They talked about me as if I had a talent. I had made so many sacrifices. Then, little by little, awareness grew. I'm young. I had to try to move on.».
Toni's words
Seano, St. Martin's Day. The surrounding hills teem with nets and unpicked olives, and bicycles slowly moving up all the hills. Andrea Innocenti, born in 1999, met us in a sun-kissed bar, in this strange autumn that continues to feel like spring. She has Sancho with her, one of her three dogs. His face is fine, and it's hard to put the feeling into words and hope to be believed.
Some weeks ago, talking to Pino Toni of athletes with a strong engine (imagining or dreaming of finding an heir for Nibali sooner or later), the Tuscan trainer said a few words.
«I've only seen two lately. One is Andrea PiccoloThe other is Andrea InnocentI'm sorry about what happened to him..."
Surprise check
The story, in short, then we move on. Andrea Innocenti, one of the most solid talents in his class, he was found positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test during a national team training campThe Careras, his attorneys, direct him to a well-known lawyer.
The first hearing (for the first life offense) lasts a quarter of an hour. They don't allow him to say anything, but the price is still high: 4 years of disqualification.The lawyer then gave an interview saying that it was all staged. The consequence (at that point quite obvious) was that in the second degree, the disqualification is confirmed And the same goes for the CAS, even though the scientific evidence favors the accused. Adding insult to injury. The lawyer did not notify that Andrea had suspended himself in the meantime, so the disqualification starts two months later.. Four years and two months.
In Bergamo, in the criminal trial related to his positive test, the boy was represented by other professionals and was acquitted. For the Italian State, there was no doping.
Cassani's call
Davide Cassani is a gentleman and knows a lot about cycling. And with disarming simplicity he says that If you test positive for doping at 19, it's not all your fault and you shouldn't be left alone. For this reason the then national team coach wanted to meet him. The two spoke shortly after the disqualification. And now that the 4 years have passed and after Andrea returned for a few races in 2022 with the Park Pre Racing Team di Francesco Ghiarè, Davide opened the doors of Technipes-InEmiliaRomagna for himHistory can begin again.
Who were you?
A good junior. I had won the Lunigiana and had become an amateur with MaltintiI've been to the Renzo's funeral, he was a really good person. I would have liked to go back with them. out of gratitude towards Renzo and for the friendship with Leonardo Scarselli, who was a technician and above all a friend.
Pino Toni says he has only seen two riders at the level of a Nibali career: Andrea Piccolo and Andrea Innocenti.
They spoke highly of me, I remember well. And Pino had seen me as a junior and then again in my first year as an U23. I made a lot of sacrifices and things were going well.After finishing high school I was supposed to go on retreat with Cioni, who was following me at the time.
Then one day you come home from training and what happens?
It was a bad time. My father had a motorcycle accident, he was in bad shapeBut that day I was happy, because he was coming home. I had just taken the third exam of my final exams, I entered the house and realized that something was wrong. My mother was crying.My uncle had recently died, and I thought they'd found something in Dad. Instead, they looked at me and asked if I had a problem and if I wanted to talk about it. They told me I couldn't run anymore, that I had tested positiveI didn't even remember having that check-up, two months had passed...
How did you react?
The first few months were the hardest. My mother works for an American multinational, and she's always busy. And with my father bedridden and me almost depressed, at a certain point I shook myself and slowly started helping out around the house again.. Meanwhile, I was reading things people were saying on social media without knowing anything about them. After a while, I even started riding my bike again, and after 15 days, I started working as a pizza chef and studying.
Study?
I dreamed of being a veterinarian. As a kid, I used to say that I would soon stop running and study for that.Then, as a student, I developed a passion for cycling and enrolled in Law. I had just graduated from the Sports Science High School and had studied Law. I liked it, so I started studying Roman Law. Except that... It was the time of the first sentence and reading those things made me feel nauseous, so I stopped studyingMy parents didn't say anything for a while. Then they spoke to me: "If you want to run again, we'll support you. But in the meantime, either study or find a job.""And so I enrolled in Sports Science. Two and a half years to take the exams. Then the internship all at once. And in June 2021 I graduated.
Your first race at the Giro del Friuli, four years and two months later. How did it affect you?
A lot of people called me, asking if I was excited. I was calm. I went back to living my life.I was convinced I would be strong, but perhaps I started out with too much enthusiasm, because at the end of the season I was exhausted. I asked Ghiarè to do them all, I wanted a lot of effort to unlock the engineBut at Del Rosso I wasn't as fresh as at the Giro del Friuli. I never expected to finish 10th on ZoncolanI'd never done such a long climb in a race. I didn't get ahead of him only because I dropped on the descent. The descent after four years can be a problem (smiles, ed.).
How have you trained these past 4 years?
My schedule included two condition peaks per yearThe first for the Florence-Empoli race, to be held until June. Then 15-20 days to recover, perhaps at altitude, and we'd start again with another peak to last until October. A winter of racing, and then we'd start again.
Legend has it that you melted two of your father's scooters while simulating the race…
One was old, the other wasn't. It's true (smiles, ed.). We did some nice laps behind the motorbike, with race distances and pacesThe first hour alone, then from Poggio a Caiano San Baronto was getting tough, from there Lamporecchio, we went up to Empoli and after 4 hours the Vitolini climb got toughAnd if I was well, Seano did too. This was once every two weeks. Last week, I was riding the time trial bike I bought myself. (The training data speaks of 10km sessions at 7 watts/kg.) And on Sunday, easy distances of 6 hours in Z2 and Z1.
What do you expect?
Everyone at home is happy. Maybe I'll miss the rhythm a little, but I'm convinced I'll go back to who I was. I'm motivated.This year there was little time, now I can take a real rest and start again on par with the others.
Where did your dreams stop?
They never stopped, but until my first year as a junior (4 wins, ed.) I struggled to understand what kind of rider I was. With a little effort, I even won sprints. The following year (9 victories, including the overall classifications of Lunigiana and Ain Bugey Valromey in France), I started to think I was better suited for stage racesI did pretty well, and I think that's the right terrain for me. I know how to climb, even though I'm not a 56-kilo climber, and I'm good at time trials. My goal will be to specialize in this.
You'll be racing with Coppolillo and Cassani's team...
I met Michele right away, he's a really nice person. The fact that Cassani placed his trust in me, I found it very important.Davide was one of the few people who called me after the checkup. He wanted to see me to understand what had happened. For me that was already gratifying, until the day before everyone loved me and then they disappearedThe fact that they called me back after four years is a plus. I hope I can repay the team for their trust.
How did the group welcome you?
My peers and national teammates They are all professionals now or they have stoppedMy classmates at ParkPre would show me the social media comments of some… foolish people. But you can't listen to everyone and everyone is free to think as they wantI just want to get back on my feet. And I'm sure something good will surely come of it...
What happened in that check?
The truth? I don't know. For the CAS I underwent a hair test with a luminary in the field and nothing came out.I didn't take anything, the most likely hypothesis is a mix-up of drugs with something we had at home. But I'm not even going to say it, because I have no evidence to support it.I don't know. But I know I didn't dope.
We start again with a retreat close to Christmas, when the Technipes-#InEmiliaRomagna riders will receive their bikes and program. In the meantime Innocenti has taken to train with Paolo Alberati and Maurizio FondriestFour years is a long time, but they weren't years of stubbornness. And however that day went, the lesson was learned. The second chance is well deserved.
