GLASGOW – The Scottish World Cup it's over, you can see suitcases and tired faces. Small groups have formed around the FCI headquarters. There is Thomas Lupi, BMX city fresh from Tommaso Frizzarin's junior bronze. There is Davide Plebani who ran the tandem with Bernard and has now joined Elisa Balsamo. And there's also Roberto Amadio, team manager of all these national teams who have the blue shirt in common and little else. Each has its specifications, its staff, its needs and putting them all together in the same event must have been a nice… little game, which we ask him about.
What would you say if you wanted to make a quick assessment?
The formula certainly needs improvement, but it could work. As for Italy, analyzing all sectors, I'm quite satisfied.
Shall we start from the track?
Considering the short time they were able to work together with Villa, it went well too. With the girls we didn't collect medals, but we're there. There is a need to adjust the preparation and that the girls themselves are aware of their means and determined to do this kind of work. Among the men, we have the guarantee of Ganna and Milan for the individual pursuit and we are always among the top with the quartet. The Viviani with the bronze he did what he had to do, but he's never satisfied. The positive thing is that I've seen Elia at the highest level, and this is very important in the long run.
He said he wants to race more on the track next year.
And this applies to him, but also to all boys and girls. You can't invent the American half an hour before going on the track., both in terms of tactics and timing of exchanges. We must roll up our sleeves and work hard with a view to the Olympics, because we have the athletes to achieve important results.
The impression is that the girls' approach to this World Cup was too difficult.
The problem that I highlighted from the beginning to Villa and Sangalli is that the WorldTour calendar is oversized compared to the quality of the girls that are there. Consequently they are almost forced to do them all and they arrive overloaded or inadequately prepared for some appointments. In anticipation of the Olympics We will need to meet with the managers of the World Tour teams and understand with them what the best approach is. We don't want to put the teams in difficulty, but the teams shouldn't put the girls in difficulty., because the Olympics goal is important and brings value to them too. I already spoke with Guercilena a few months ago and there won't be any problems.
Despite everything and despite the girls being called upon to perform both on the road and on the track, is there room for improvement?
The girls are those, both on the street and on the track and we must be aware of them to manage them in the best way. However, it is also important for them to understand what the main objectives are for next season. I believe that we are in a position to straighten out the situation very wellWe have 4-5 fourth places within hundredths of a second, which could easily have been medals, so from this point of view I feel calm. I think that After this World Cup we are even more aware of what needs to be done.
What about the road men?
We collected less than we could have. I'm talking about the juniors with Sierra who finished fourth, but without a bit of bad luck he could very well have been fighting for second or third place. Milesi was very good in the time trial, but if he had been more lucid in the last 4 kilometers of the road race, he would have taken away another medal. Among the elite women there was no history, but if we had had Longo Borghini, seeing how things have gone all season, she would have been ahead and fighting for a medal.
A medal that instead came from mountain biking.
Paccagnella's silver medal among the juniors is a good sign, the seventh place of Braidot It confirms that we're well ahead. Of course, we're always looking at the medals, but Looking at the quality of the opponents, one can be satisfied. Same in BMX, where we reached the final with three guys and that's no small thing. In the elite we're at the semifinal level and there too there is work to be done towards specializationWith the performance group this year we have made progress that is visible.
The speed?
It was a sector that had disappeared for years, like the Paralympic track: extincted by the Federation itselfIn just a few months, we've shown that we're ready for the Paralympic Games and even won a few medals. The same goes for the sprint: we're right there, ninth or tenth, just shy of qualifying. An exceptional job has been done, because in a year and a half you can't invent anything.But the positive thing is that in every competition we have the margin and the professionalism to work well.
Do you also do freestyle?
That's a world of its own, a little more difficult. Unfortunately. I think that qualifying for the Olympics is a long way off and therefore we will have to evaluate whether to focus on the very young to build something with a view to the future.
Are you satisfied with the structure you've put together?
I must first of all thank the secretariatsThe one on the road, with Giorgio Elli, Elisabetta Tufi and Italo Mambro, and the one on the track with Francesca Butrico. In short, It was a challenging World Cup because we moved almost 300 people, with the added complication of not being in the European Community. But I have to say that everything went very well.
On the technical front?
Maybe we'll take those 15-20 days to reflect a little on what happenedThere is something to review, I'm not hiding it, on the contrary We definitely have to review somethingBut as I said before, we're not in a bad position. We'll definitely be in good shape in Paris, which will be next year's main event.
You have often referred to the performance group.
The group of Bragato he's doing a great job, I'm very happy with what they're doingWe've also done a lot of research into materials and innovation. There's still a lot of work to be done on this, because we have demanding athletes like Filippo who rightly leaves nothing to chanceWe've seen that winning and losing are based on subtleties that ultimately make the difference. So, for all of this, I'd say it was a good World Cup.
