In the year in which, having won the bronze medal for the quartet in Paris, Ganna, Milan and Consonni will give priority to the road, Francesco Lamon will remain thethe keeper of that fantastic little train who had previously taken home gold in Tokyo and the world championship in Roubaix.
His season started on the road inAl Salam Championship from Dubai and with him there were also Viviani and Scartezzini, but now will return to the velodrome with the European championships which will bring together the track circus in Zolder from 12 to 16 FebruaryFrancesco is a solid, reserved boy, capable of boundless determination. He loves to think and always does so with great concreteness.
«I will definitely make the quartet – says the Venetian of the Blue Flames – I don't know about other specialties yet, it will also depend on which young people will be there and how Marco wants to work (Villa, editor's note). My availability is as always at its maximumI'm living this period in a very calm way. I think that me too, if I had been Ganna o Milan and having nothing more to prove, I would have reasoned the same wayAnd I also think it's the best time. What better occasion than the two post-Olympic years, which are relatively quiet?
So now it's up to you to be the point of reference for the youngsters who will appear on the track from time to time. Do you see yourself as someone who can offer advice? How do they see you?
I see it as a way to pass on what I have learned over the yearsThe young people who come up now and join our group have a much greater advantage than when I was young, years ago. At that time, track activity wasn't as developed, but above all it didn't have such a large following. So obviously, also thanks to the work that Elia has done, I found myself living both the most difficult period of the beginning and the splendid one we are living today..
So what advantage do the young players who are now joining the national team have?
I'm not saying they already have a clear path, though. they start from a higher level, even just for the materialsThen there are the preparation methods developed 100 percent by the performance industry. So if an athlete has the skills, he will emerge more easily compared to when we debuted.
Can we say that Milan was an example of this?
Exactly, the most recent and clearest example. When Jonathan has arrived Four years ago, he was a super emerging young man. And we saw that, with all the materials available and the right preparation, it immediately made the difference. That said, I think Johnny would have emerged even if he had been in the last of the nations in the world, but still a young person who wants to start track racing in Italy today is at a great advantage.
Let's talk about Francesco Lamon, the only one of that quartet who isn't a professional road racer. How demanding was it, physically and mentally, to maintain that high level and not give up an inch?
Obviously in the last four years, I also passed my moments of ups and downs and I'm happy with how I arrived in Paris. Honestly, as I've always said, I don't experience a mental or pressure gap, racing with other guys who are road professionalsWhen we're there together, no one asks or looks at what anyone has won or done on the road. There are four of us, all for one in those four kilometers, so the rest is zero. Obviously in terms of preparation. I had to push a little harder and to do somersaults to bridge the differences or get closer to performances that I can't achieve with my road activity.
And how did you do it?
I started to work much earlier, making more road retirements. And when they were at the Giro d'Italia, I I was asking the Goodbye and to the Fiamme Azzurre who would field me in as many races as possible. I also increased the volume blocks at altitude, so when they broke away from the Giro, I had already been at altitude for a month. I did everything I could to get close to their level., so that we were as homogeneous as possible on the track.
However, it is a commitment that requires study and application…
If I had to say what the most obvious gap is, I would have to talk about their greater resistance due to road activity. The specific work Instead it's the same for everyone and our luck is that we manage to get to the important appointments at the same level.The quartet's effort is short but intense, so it's quite within my capabilities, whereas I would have had more difficulty if I had had to prepare for a Madison, for example, without running so much on the road.
Obviously each of these steps is studied with Bragato and Villa?
Of course and also when I spent all that time at altitude, a compromise was found so as not to give up track activity. So once a week or ten days, I would go down from Livigno and go to Montichiari. The altitude gives me a lot of benefits, so during the Olympic year I tried to make the most of it.
With the European Championships coming up, what's your motivation for going, knowing that the Italian dream team won't be there?
When you go for a run, the mindset is the same, whether you go to a regional championship or the OlympicsIf I saw that I didn't have the grit or the right motivation, I'd be the first to back out. An additional incentive could be to to be able to bring three other young people to the podium, so that for them too the four-year period can start in the best possible wayObviously, four years is a long time, and for better or worse, this European Championship won't be the deciding factor. But it could be a good starting point to exploit.
From your perspective, do you see these kids intimidated when approaching more experienced and successful athletes like you?
Oh my God, it depends on their character. We've seen some too. some a little more cheeky, even if it later backfired on them too, obviously in a good way. Others, however, are a little more shy, more in need of growth. But I repeat: I do it very willingly, because they need my experience.
For what, for example?
At the last World Championship, I noticed their way of approaching the race. They don't know how to handle tension well and this is a type of experience that is inevitably missing.Being so young, they haven't had many opportunities to break the ice. They're very strong, but if you don't acquire the necessary coolness, The mistakes you risk making are more numerous than the results you bring home., so you have to find the right compromise between things.
You were born in 1994, so you'll be 31 in February, which would make you 34 in Los Angeles. Are you already thinking about it, or do you live month to month?
I can't say where I will be in 2028, the question is on the table. But I'm not one to live one month at a time.If I see that the desire is still there, like it is now, then I'll live the race as if I were twenty. But I'd also be the first to back down, seeing that I'm stubborn and that the level isn't up to par. Sooner or later the cycle will close, but I don't feel like saying right now whether I'll be there or not.For now, I'm still here, giving it my all, with 100 percent determination and determination, I'm sure of that.
In Tokyo, the gold medal came without an audience due to Covid, in Paris there was chaos...
But I I rather having won a gold without an audience (laughs, ed.), which a bronze in front of 50.000 peopleThe difference in environment was noticeable, but honestly, it's not something that affects me that much. There could have been a billion people there, and the performance wouldn't have changed.
What's your spring schedule?
I'll be racing in Grenchen in the next few days because I'd like to make the effort of a race before the European Championships. Then we'll do a pre-European retreat and we will leave for Belgium. Then I still don't know what the World Cup schedule will be. So now let's try to get through the day well Europeans and then Marco and I will take stock for what can still be done.
