2021 was certainly not the best season of Giovanni Visconti. At least so far. The Sicilian of the Bardiani Csf Faizanè At the Tour of Slovenia, he decided to make a change. He raised his arm and said stop.
«It is impossible and useless to continue like this. And in agreement with Roberto Reverberi we decided it was best to stop, reset everything and focus on the end of the season."
Considered pit stop
But to understand how we got to this point, we need to go back to December. And Visco himself tells us everything. Just one question, and the three-time national champion explains clearly and honestly everything that happened to him.
«As I said, the season has gone badly so far and not because I haven't put in the effort, that's definitely not the case, even the team acknowledges that. A commitment that wasn't limited to training alone, but also to working with the kids, helping them develop a different mentality and build a team.
«It all starts in December with a terrible Shingles rash that led to thyroid problems. This is kind of the engine control unit. And it was a constant chase for form, trying to recover. So it was necessary to stop and recover. Recover mentally too, because with all those beatings you get into a spiral that you can't get out of. And so I stopped in Slovenia. There was no point in going to the Italian Championship in those conditions and you all know what that race means to me. It wouldn't have been fair to me or to the team."
Suffering at the Giro
Without the Giro d'Italia, Giovanni would probably have stopped earlier. He knew and felt he wasn't well, but clearly it was impossible not to be at the Giro. He himself recounts experiencing real suffering throughout the entire Giro.
«I resisted out of pride. I finished it out of respect for the trust the team and sponsors had in me, but believe me when I tell you that I lost two years of my life. I made four breakaways, two of them difficult ones that I don't even know how I managed. But in the following days I almost lost my way, even though they were flat stages. I spent a lot, even mentally. And in fact, after the Giro, I even lost my mind. And as I said, in agreement with Reverberi, we stopped. Stop taking setbacks. He told me: if you recover well, you have the final three months to do without any problems, and if you get one race right, you'll see that everything changes."
Bardiani, what a surprise!
And so, after a few days of total shutdown, Visconti packed his bags, took his family, and headed to Sardinia. But not to sunbathe on the beach...
«I've been on the island for two weeks now. And I'll start running again right at the Italian Cycling Week, I'll wait for the team here. I've started training well again and I've even felt some good physical sensations.
«I'd like to have a strong end to the season to erase the past months, to be competitive given the many sacrifices I've made, also because the team believes in me. Here I found a “God-like” environment: serene, humble… I would like to repay it. Oh, if only I'd known this beforehand... The Reverberi are wonderful people. So much so that, despite it being a bad season, I'm not ruling out the idea of staying another year, precisely because I like this group."
No heights…
As mentioned, Visconti is in Sardinia. And when you associate the name of this island with summer, it's hard to imagine training and sacrifices. And Visconti himself jokes about it.
"I've been here since June 30th. It may seem like a rush, but I recharge at the seaside. Altitude has the opposite effect on me. Even when I was a junior, they saw that it wasn't good for me, quite the opposite. The last time I did it I was in Bahrain Merida and they sent me home after a week. I'm here with my family. I train in the morning, rest in the afternoon and watch the Tour, and in the evening I might go to the beach for an hour.
"And what roads! Beautiful. Ideal for training. I'm near Golfo Aranci. The routes are tough. There are lots of short climbs, which are what I need, especially now that it's summer. And when I need to do distance riding, I head towards Limbara, a tough climb! Or I go towards Montagneddu."
Crackling summer
So Visconti's program starts again from the Giro di Sardegna (or Italian Week, as it may be) and then what?
"And then there's just the running to do; there's no shortage of races. In the meantime, let's start again with this race, which will be very useful for completing our preparation. Even if it's not very hard, it's good for finding a bit of race rhythm and a good pedal stroke. Also because then there will be another 15 days without racing and in August there are all the races we want in Italy. But maybe I could also do one or two short stage races in France."
So let's expect the combative Visconti we're used to seeing. Summer races are his. And if everything's in order...
