MISANO ADIRATICO – «This year there has been a good turnover of athletes – says Mirko Testa – there are some new blood coming in. It's changing a bit the national tourMore and more young athletes are starting to try out. It's beautiful, it's beautiful for movement, it's beautiful for sport, everything is evolving. The level is rising and we are also changing the way we experience sport, in my opinion we are in the right direction."
Italian Bike Festival It was a whirlwind of unique encounters. And that's how Saturday afternoon at the stand of Eevye we met Mirko Testa, bronze in the Paralympic time trial in Paris (CONI photo at the top). A guy like that gives you the shivers with the grit he puts in. He was a motocross racer and during a race he fell and suffered the spinal injury that left him wheelchair-bound. Yet a month and a half after leaving the hospital he took part in his first handbike race and the following year he won the Giro d'Italia.Last year in Glasgow won the world championship and in Paris, in addition to the individual bronze, he achieved silver in the relay.
Mirko stares and radiates energy. People ask for photos, the giants of the Paralympics they are entering ever more strongly into the horizons of othersAnd the sparkle of an Olympic medal is not something one can remain indifferent to.
What remains after Paris?
So much emotion! Honestly, I didn't expect a race like this, because it really went beyond my expectations.I was aiming to do well, I was coming in as the reigning world champion, so I definitely wanted a top 5. I prepared well, but the Olympics are the Olympics and you never know what happens.I'm happy. I managed to get a nice bronze and the two Frenchmen who finished ahead of me played a great team game. It's fair that they came first and second. More or less, you know... (laughs, ed.) I'm happy with my bronze and silver in the relay, which is nice because it's a team medal.
You mentioned new blood and the relay itself was also new in its own way…
In fact, we started as a bit of an underdog, because it was a new team, untested. But we had fun and we also got a good result..
You arrived as a world champion, how much higher is the Olympic level than a world championship?
It's completely different. I have to say that I prepared much more than I did for last year's World Championships. I felt much better, I was much faster. But I saw that the others were also much faster than in Glasgow.. Rightly so, you're in the peak of your peak form; it's a once-in-four-years event. The level is truly high.
The season isn't over yet, there's a lot to fight for...
In fact, in a few days there is the world championship in Zurich. It's nice because we're racing with the pros like last year in Scotland.In my opinion, this unification will also help the movement grow further, and it will also help us see ourselves. I'm going as a world champion, the expectations are high, I'll do my bestThe course is very tough. We do the first stretch on the elite course and then we go out and luckily we do a slightly easier stretch. However, it will be a 1.200 m difference in altitude which, pedalling with your arms, will be felt..
Are you going on vacation then?
Then vacation, exactly. We're taking a break, and I don't want to see the bike anymore for a while. Next year's commitments are still being definedI don't think all the World Cups are set yet; at most, we know a couple. The only thing that's certain is the World Cup. I'm confident that by the time I start training again, we'll know more.
