Not only the silver of Daniel Oss, the gravel world championship also gave us the beautiful bronze of Chiara Teocchi. The biker of the Trinity Racing, and the Army for "institutional" duties, somewhat unexpectedly, she was the protagonist of a long race for her characteristics. While there were no doubts about her toughness, the fact that Teocchi is a tough girl is certainly no news.
So, how did this first women's gravel world championship go? It's the Italian athlete herself who leads us to the discovery.
Chiara, first of all, congratulations! We've seen that among the men, road bikers have dominated, while among the women, you bikers have "massacred" all the others...
Yes, but it's also true that If we analyze the men's podium, they are all guys who have or have had something to do with mountain biking and cross-country. Vermeersch he's a cross-country rider, Daniel (Oss, ed.) did cross-country and wasn't new to gravel, and Van der Poel…we know it. What I noticed is that in the first part of the race the road bikers lost a lot on the dirt sections, on the corners and in the more flowing sections. They weren't used to it, and you could clearly see them braking harder. And I think that's also why the breakaway team gained such a lead.
Did you understand that? Should we take advantage of it now?
More than anything else when I saw that Ferrand-Prevot and Frei had moved, I moved too. The road workers took the matter lightly. "Oh yeah, let's let these bikers go, they can't handle 140 kilometers anyway." Actually, we did! We finished the race at an average speed of 33, and on dirt roads and over 140 kilometers of running, that's quite a lot.
How did you manage to extend this range of action so much?
I was actually disappointed not to be called up for the European and World Championships and so I said to myself: "I have to get my revenge. I have to be called up for the Gravel World Championships." Lately, I'd been focusing a lot on gravel. And I also wanted to have fun. And since it was new, I approached it with less anxiety, and maybe that's why it went well.
How did the race go? What was going through your mind and legs?
I kept telling myself not to let go, absolutely not. Because if I lost five meters, I'd be left in the wind. Then we talked a bit, and Pauline especially kept urging me on: "Let's go, let's go." But when we had 40 kilometers to go and we had one minute to go, I was a little hesitant; I thought they were coming to pick us up. But I could see that we were still pedaling well. At that point I thought: if they come to take us back, never mind, but we'll try.
Was your bike set up differently than Argenta's?
I can actually say that I really ran a gravel world championship, because the Specialized diverge It's a gravel bike. I didn't have a road bike or a Roubaix (in reference to the other Specialized, ed.) with cross tires. And I'm happy to have reached the podium with a real gravel bike that weighed three kilos more than the others. Not to mention that for this I had gravel relationships, so a single chainring, while Frei for example had a double road chainring. He could have used longer ratios.
Do you think those relationships would have been useful to you?
Yes, because every now and then I was missing a few teeth. But, I repeat, I left with a gravel bike at the gravel world championshipI have been consistent.
What future does gravel have for you?
In my opinion it will develop a lot and it's not a given that it won't become an Olympic discipline in Los Angeles. Companies will invest heavily in it, otherwise athletes like Van der Poel and Ferrand-Prevot wouldn't have come. And it's a bike that allows you a lot. During the preparation on the days I had to go for the distance I would put on the road wheels and off I wentOn days when I wanted to go on a more technical ride, I'd put on gravel wheels. Sure, you don't do enduro descents, but if there aren't too many obstacles, you can easily do it. For me, it's the bike of the future.
In light of what has been said, that is, that a few corners were enough to gain ground on the road bikes, does a biker have a great advantage with a little more technical skill?
Yes. And from what I heard next year the race will be shorter, but more technically selective: more climbing, more descending and more off-road driving.
How did you manage your diet?
My plan was to consume 70 grams of carbohydrates per hour. I had a little routine: always a bottle of malt and one of water, also to rinse my mouth. Every 20 minutes I'd gulp something down. Then some gels, one malt and one caffeine in the final 20 kilometers, then jellies and a bar, which I ate half in the first hour and half after the third hour.
