KRAKOW – "A life as a midfielder, working like Oriali. Years of hard work and hardship, and maybe you win the World Cup," Ligabue sang, paraphrasing football. Cycling's midfielder is a support player, and the list would be much longer than the Oriali of the moment. Al Tour of Poland there was perhaps the perfect gregarious, Salvatore Puccio, but there was also Jacopo Fly.
The rider of Lidl Trek this time he wasn't wearing his usual clothes. He had a different role. He was conquering the mountain bike jersey with desire, legs, and intelligence. He had always been part of the good breakaway. Then, on the day of the big stage, the fifth stage, which offered more points than the entire Poland stage, he caught the breakaway, but it wasn't the good one. And the dreams vanished.
Faded dream
Going back to Ligabue, you fight and maybe even get hit, but if fate says you shouldn't win, you don't win. Fighters and "damned": in the end, these are the riders we like the most. In Moscow, he has three days left on the podium and a jersey to look at with pride and pleasure once he gets home. Which is exactly what he told us himself.
On the second day, he finished the stage with five points, tied with Lucas Hamilton. They were both leaders.
"Maybe they'll give me the polka-dotted shirt out of kindness," Jacopo told us after the finish line.
The next day before the start he tells us: «Hey, maybe he didn't like me! They didn't give it to me! But while he was joking, he was already on the front lines. He wanted to go back on the run. He had tasted those feelings of freedom again after a long time. He had a clear plan in mind.
And the project was going well. The only consolation is that that shirt remained at Lidl-Trek. Markus Hoelgaard was supposed to defend it from attack, but once he sensed the danger of losing it, he rightfully struck. Better him, from Lidl, than anyone else.
Almost like Ciccone
Moscow was a bit of the ciccone of Poland. And how Cicco managed his energy. He attacked when it was time, and stepped back to conserve energy at other times.
«Yes – Mosca comments ironically – But Cicco was at the Tour! The difference was that the dots here were blue and in France they're red. His was more beautiful. A bit like Instagram versus reality! On social media it's beautiful, in reality definitely less so... He had the big one, I had the smaller one! Apart from everything else, we tried. Often the group didn't give us much space, but that's okay."
Captain for a day
Feeling like a leader. An unusual feeling for Mosca. He's one of the most appreciated teammates. He knows his job well. Then this opportunity came along.
«We came to Poland to help Edward Theuns in the sprints – said Mosca – Otto Vergaerde and I had to support him in the final. Then there was a bit of space, and that, for those of us who are always working, is nice. It gives you energy.
"I had "invented" this goal of the GPM jersey, but I knew that stage five would be decisive." And so it was...
Mosca then also delves into the technical details. Breaking away, fighting with so many kilometers to go, also requires a different approach.
«In my first years as a pro – Mosca continues – that's all I did: I was always on the run. I like to attack, clearly today with the group going from strength to strength it is also difficult go there and once you get there you definitely spend more.
"And the point is simple: to be out alone, or with a few people, you get more air and to go faster you produce more watts. So you spend more and you have to eat more. But I have to say that Between apps, meetings and above all experience you manage yourself very well».
Studying Elisa…
Mosca is optimistic and proactive. We ask him, more or less jokingly, if in this Poland, where he's had more freedom, he's asked his partner for any advice. Elisa Longo Borghini.
"Ah," Mosca laughs, "if anything, I should be the one giving her advice on how to break away. She's a sprinter. I have to earn it." His attacks do not count as escapes! They are the actions of the strong ones.!
«Jokes aside, going on the run is nice. But it's interesting to see his approach to racing, to attacking. This is how I also see how a leader approaches a race. I see it from a different angle. And when I deal with my teammates who are aiming for something, I think about the sacrifices they have to make, the pressure they're under...
«Just because they are born stronger doesn't mean everything comes easy to them, just like it does to us who "go slower". In the end, they have better legs, they were luckier, but in some respects we are the same. We all do 100 percent cycling, otherwise in today's times we wouldn't even see the tail end of the group."
