Autumn day in the Sibillini Mountains, in the heart of the Marche region. The forest is awash with a thousand colors, and the highest peaks are already blanketed in snow. On the Santa Maddalena Pass, practically called Sassotetto.The wind is making itself felt, but at least it's clearing the clouds away. A group of people gather around a large stone block. Among them is Vincenzo Nibali. The Shark came up here precisely for that block. A stone that is a work of art. A work of art that is a memory: that of Michele Scarponi.
We are in the heart of the Marche, as mentioned, a region of which Nibali is a testimonial, but also home to his granfondo, the Nibali 5 Thousand Marche, which will be staged tomorrow in Porto Recanati. The weekend thus begins with emotion and memories. Memories tied to Michele and the many challenges he's experienced in these parts.
The stele at Sassotetto
«It's always a pleasure to be here, even more so for Michele – says the Shark – I remember that on this very climb he attacked in a Tirreno-Adriatico and went on to win ahead of Garzelli e Low (The stage ended in Camerino, ed.). That year, "Scarpa" was really keen. It was him against Liquigas. It was a 230-plus kilometer stage. I broke away from afar. And in the last ten kilometers down here—and he nods his chin, indicating the direction of the road—I had a crisis. I couldn't get up anymore. It was the Tirreno that Michele won with time bonuses, if I remember correctly."
The Shark has been off for a week now. He's finished his seventeenth season da pro' with his impressive victory at the Giro di Sicilia, in the most classic of "stage and jersey" races. And this gives him a great deal of confidence ahead of next season, which will see him once again in turquoise colors.
"It's special to be up here," Nibali continues. "Maybe this year I'm returning to Astana, which is like a family. I'll meet up with the 'Astana boys,' as I call them, next week to get some measurements for the bike and clothing and start talking about plans."
Memories with Michele…
In fact the placing of this stele for Scarponi and the contextual return in Astana they make everything more suggestive and the memories follow one another.
"Michele always told me to come train with me. But where are you?" I asked him. And he again: in Filottrano, the center of the world! I haven't visited him often, but when I first went there, we climbed La Castelletta, sometimes with his friends. It's his climb, the test climb, the everyday climb. There's a small stele dedicated to him there too."
Scarponi's father, Giacomo, thanks those present: "When I see certain things and hear certain words, I feel that Michele is still alive." Then he approaches Nibali and repeats his thanks, but this time in private. Vincenzo retorts, "Are you kidding?"
«There are many memories of the challenges in the Marche. But what I remember most with Michele is as opponents. And precisely the Sassotetto stage. Why? Because I wanted to beat him, but I couldn't!
How many challenges in the Marche
But it was soon clear that the feeling with the Marche was good. Tirreno 2013. Liquigas raced together for Nibali, and did so even in the Sant'Elpidio stage, whose finale included a deadly wall, but it so happened that…
«It happens that History He was supposed to control the situation, control it for me. Instead, he had so much that he left us all there and I was second best."
From the wall of Sant'Elpidio to the walls of Castelfidardo, in the now legendary stage of Van der Poel, always at this year's Tirreno.
«That was also deadly. It was incredibly cold, but my memory of that section is that despite the cold and the rain there was a lot of people."
But in between, there are other passages in the Marche region that are absolutely not secondary. One in particular is linked to the 2013 Giro.
Saltara, the time trial and the rose
A true masterpiece unfolds on that stage. There's a time trial, ideal terrain for the Englishman. WigginsNibali must defend himself. The Englishman, whose strength lies in time trials, is already expected to wear the pink jersey at the end of the stage.
«I had tried that time trial at least three times: One in the winter, one just before the Giro, and one the day before. I did really well, took the pink jersey, and kept it until… Brescia, I almost said Milan!
And it's true, they had studied that time trial in Astana down to the millimeter. We were on the press monitors behind the finish line and next to us there was Giampaolo Mondini, di Specialized, the brand Nibali was racing with at the time. Well, Mondini, fingers crossed from memory (and in full competitive mode), repeated the "script": stay in position, turn right, turn left, stand on the pedals... And Nibali automatically did everything.
That day Nibali probably went from being great to very great.
