«I will feel like I'm sitting on the shoulders of the giants who came before me», then Rizzato pauses and you feel the change of paceThe commentator gives way to the boy and the emotion becomes palpable. We often ask the riders what they feel when making their Tour debut, but it's the same question that anyone who has experienced it, in various capacities and within its scope, could answer. Stefano (in the opening on the bike at the last Giro, photo Mirrormedia) will be the voice of Rai Sport in the next edition of the French race, in a professional transition that wouldn't leave even the most cynical of commentators indifferent. Let alone those who live the sport from the inside and with passion.
«If we have a virtue in such a historic company – he reflects – it is that of being able to learn from those who came before us and who then join usIt's a great asset that applies to both big and small things. Of course, I'll have to put my own spin on it, my personality. I'll have to put chemistry into it Stefano Garzelli, which I've already heard was excellent at the Dauphiné. Stefano is a person who prepares a lot, who has great enthusiasm..."
Delayed debut
Il Italian time trial championship it's behind us, The French adventure will begin next week, but in reality it has already begun a while agoStefano was supposed to make his hosting debut at La Flèche Wallonne and then at Liège, but Covid forced him to stay at home.
The transition from motorcycle to workstation isn't easy. It's not just, as a good portion of couch potatoes think, picking up a microphone and talking. At least, it's not if you want your words to tell a story, engage, and inform. Behind that microphone most of the time there are people who study and get involved, even knowing that they are exposed to the often hasty judgment by those who do not have the time or even the taste to delve deeper.
How did you go from riding a motorbike to working as a stationary?
It's a path that Alessandra De Stefano and Alessandro Fabretti proposed to me, with the idea of supporting Pancani in a more stable way, who is the cornerstone of the whole project. In the sense that Francesco will support me on this journey, being he too was at the Tour doing the research and the coordinator. It will be essential to have their support and advice. He has followed several Di Tour, he does the job better than anyone and For me the real opportunity is to be able to learn from him.
No changes, then?
This I would like it to be clearFor me, it won't be so much about having placed my flag on the Tour de France and achieved one of my childhood dreams, but the great professional and human opportunity of competing in the Tour while learning from someone who has told it best over the years. Francesco is number one: there is no handover, but rather a beautiful relationship made of deep respect and the great pleasure of working together.
At the Giro you had to take his place…
Beyond the emotional part (the Tuscan had to rush to his mother Anna, who passed away a few days later, ed.), It was difficult to manage the position having the motorbike in mindIt's a totally different job. It's a commentary, but at the same time it's like it's a conduction.
What does it mean?
In fact I had to consult seven other voices, between the technical commentary of Petacchi and Giada (Borgato, ed.), the one on history and stories with Fabio Genovesi. Then there was the professor Fagnani from Radio Informazioni and the two motorcycles of Saligari and Martini. Other times, more sporadically, there was a connection from the arrival, which could be with Antonello Orlando or others. If you add the Process window to the Stage, the entries become eight and you understand that it is a very particular job.
Was it difficult to take over?
The truth is that the car was already driving well, so the main goal was not to crash itKeep it straight until the owner returns. The various voices were already communicating well, I took advantage of a job that Francesco had already planned. I tried to do it first and foremost with moderation, because it wasn't my house anyway. I was the substitute teacher and so we were all waiting for Pancani to come back.
The Tour will be your home. How did you prepare?
I did a big job on history, both for Alessandra's advice and for the idea I had formed. You can't talk about a Tour without understanding what's behind it.We talk a lot about its magnitude as if it were an earthquake, we talk about everything around it and its grandeur, but it is important to understand what came before.
How did you move?
I went hunting for the best sources and found them in a box set of three beautiful volumes edited by L'Equipe for the centenaryAnd there, among the stunning photos and beautiful stories, I truly got lost in the history of the Tour. I'm just getting out of it now, I'm just arriving at the start and I feel like I've better understood the story of the Tour de France. I confess that I didn't have such in-depth knowledge before..
What struck you?
I had always heard that the Tour had a great history, now I discovered that it is made up of a lot of episodes and details through which You understand that it's also a very cruel race. It was born to be that way, to be bad.It's a dialogue between past and present that I hope to be able to bring to the show.
Which of the tours you discovered would you like to tell the story of?
If I were French, I would say one of those with the duel between Anquetil and PoulidorWhen you have two characters like that, it's clear that you experience the Tour in a particular way. What was defined the Tour of Tours if I'm not mistaken was the one in 1964, with Anquetil winning by 55 seconds. It wouldn't be bad to have two characters like that, find a duel today that is on par with that one or even comes a little close. Now there's a giant, and everyone else is trying to keep pace and unite against him. But who knows? Maybe we'll have a great challenge this year too...
How can a journalist, who is in the group on the motorbike, report on the race without seeing anyone?
We are at the heart of the matter and it is something that has occupied a lot of my thoughtsEven though it will be a news story, the goal is to bring into the story what I experienced on the bike and through many interviews. At the Tour we don't have the support of the group reporters, so I would like to bring into the live broadcast a little of the street I come fromIf you think about it, everyone who came before me, even Pancani who still does it, went through motorbikes. It gives you a different, more involved eye. You could really say I'm a streetwise commentator.
Earlier you talked about your childhood dream…
I started from a site, Cycleweb. I took my very first steps there as a cycling enthusiastThen, little by little, I got closer to journalism and made it a profession. I dealt with many different things that had nothing to do with sports, until I joined Rai in 2016. So it's clear that the Tour is the realisation of something big and important that I dreamed of as a sports and cycling enthusiastThe path was tortuous and particular like everyone's.
Television reporters are criticized for wasting too many words describing things that are already visible in the images. Can this be avoided?
I can give two parts of the answer. One comes from what the motorcycle taught me, which is made to tell what cannot be seenIt's best not to lose that habit. And then I must admit with great honesty that having as guides Alessandra De Stefano and Alessandro Fabretti, who have seen and told so much about cycling, and having Francesco Pancani on the front line, he will help me not to fall into error.
What's in Rizzato's bag for the Tour?
Always too many things. I certainly have the computer in front of me almost all the time, but that's a deformation. Now I have a rather obsessive division between things to consult on the computer and those that I print and keep in a notebookIn the computer I look more at the statistical aspect of the work in progress, I always keep an eye on social media, because there is something that escapes the eye on the various screens and perhaps is captured by an enthusiast.
When do we leave?
June 28th, next Tuesday. There's really very little left now.
