It was August 2, 1992. Annalisa was standing with her mother, her in-laws, and the Albese gang 200 meters from the finish line. Fabio had slipped in in the escape with Dekker and Ozols and the girl only needed one look to understand that he would win.Barcelona was burning with African heat. The three blues brought by Zenoni wore a light blue suit made specifically to repel the sun's rays.There were just a few kilometers left until the end of the Barcelona Olympics and for the last time in cycling history, amateurs were racing.
Now take a deep breath and forget about the rest. The 1995 Tour is far from coming, chase away those images and go back to when Fabio was a 22 year old boy in a game so big it makes his wrists tremble. It would be better to close his eyes, there's too much light in this room today.
«To tell him that they had summoned him – he recalls – they called him to my house. He had come down for the Sant'Ermete race, the Peace Cup, and had won it.They probably called him at his house and his parents gave us our number. The Olympics had been talked about since the beginning of the year, but they seemed far away and unattainable. Then he started winning, but he kept telling me that they would bring Bartoli anyway..."
A very nice person
Annalisa tells. In some ways, the almost thirty years have been as heavy as torture., because life has presented a heavy and unfair bill, but now turning around it seems like they flew.
«Who was Fabio? For me he was a very nice person – she says – I met him when I was twenty. I don't feel like sanctifying him too much, because we all have our flaws, and back then we had even more, due to our age. But he was a really nice person. In short, he was my love…».
Three Italians in retreat
1992 had begun with a series of victories, from Montecarlo-Alassio to Soprazocco, passing through TriesteIt was impossible to leave him at home and Zenoni didn't even consider the problem. They would have gone to Barcelona Gualdi, rebellin and CasartelliDue to Bartoli's exclusion, Daniele Tortoli's flagship was cancelled, but that's another story and once again we'd be talking about friends who are no longer with us.
The three boys flew to Igualada, a town 70 kilometers from Barcelona and 20 from the Olympic circuit. Zenoni joined them together with Peron, once the 100 Kilometers were run, which saw Germany win and the Azzurri take silver, with Anastasia, Contri, Colombo and the Varese native who would have been the reserve on the road.
«Fabio was in the room with Rebellin – Gualdi recalls – I was alone, but The time we spent all three of us chatting in the same bed was more than the time we spent apart.We were calm, with Benazzi the masseur and Fossa the mechanic. Zenoni used to make us follow the dissociated dietFour days without carbs, then the inversion and three days of loading. I remember that on the day of the inversion we were training and Fabio went into a hunger crisis, and so did I. We went from having fantastic feelings to not moving forward.I remembered that the same thing had happened to me two years earlier when I won the World Championship in Japan. And so I started telling him not to worry, to throw away the bad thoughts."
When the two returned to the hotel, Zenoni almost celebrated them for having managed to empty themselves so well of all sugar and then he recommended them to go hard on the carbohydrates. When Fabio broke away with those two, he blessed that load of carbohydrates and he began to think about how to win the race.
Under the podium
Now take a deep breath and forget about the rest. The 1995 Tour is still a long way off. Push away those images and go back to when Fabio was a 22-year-old kid, playing a game so big it made his wrists tremble. It's best to close your eyes; there's too much light in this room today.
“I left Albese with my mother,” Annalisa recalls, “and with the fans, all on the same bus. I remember that on the morning of the race, I managed to see him before he left.I had brought a small TV with an antenna, I felt privileged, even though it was constantly losing signal. I was at the 200 meters and when he won I did everything I could to climb over the barriers, but they didn't want to let me passI kept saying I was the girlfriend, but what did you expect those Spanish speakers to understand? Until I somehow managed to reach him. Fabio hugged me. He looked at me. And he said, “Did you see what I did?” I laughed and cried, I didn't understand…».
Fabio stood on the podium wearing Gualdi's jersey, because his own had been torn. In those Olympics, where everything was done, the podium was held immediately after the race, without even giving the riders a chance to change.
Rebellin's ticket
A sign of the times. Now imagine the Olympic champion's partner leaping over the barriers and catching him before the podium. But worse happened...
«After the awards ceremony I went to the hotel - he recalls - and the topic of how I would get home came upThe bus was about to leave and Since Rebellin would be returning with his family, I could have taken his ticket. Can you imagine doing something like that today? I'm a rule-abiding person, but Fabio said that if they'd made a fuss, he'd pull out the gold medal and let us pass, but no one asked us anything. In short, I was supposed to stay up there for a few days, and I stayed longer with him. I had no change of clothes. And when we landed at the airport, I was wearing his shorts and his national team shirt.Imagine how I felt when the doors opened and we found ourselves faced with journalists and photographers. I was already embarrassingly shy, imagine how I must have felt.. Fabio was actually shy too, and at first he liked all this being called to parties, for interviews and photos. Then one day in the fall he snapped and started saying enough."
Marriage in 1993
One day they found themselves guests at Pavarotti & Friends, dining with the Maestro and his wife. "God, how awkward," Annalisa recalls, "I couldn't even enjoy myself, even though I realized that Pavarotti was a normal person to talk to. But when we were alone, we had a blast. Victory hadn't changed him; he was still the same. To tell the truth, I began to think that with all those beauty queens around, it would all end, and I told him so. He looked at me and said, “Are you crazy?” The next year we got married. And not because I was pregnant, as some said. But only because he was in Albese and I was in Forlì, too far away to continue traveling. I learned the hard way how bad people's gossip is. Just as I realized how many best friends emerged after winning the Olympics. People we'd perhaps never met, who came to tell me who knows what..."
The heroes are all young and beautiful
Fabio passed away on July 18, 1995, but somehow it's as if he was still with us. It comes back to life every time we meet Annalisa's gaze or words and it comes back to life in the expressions of her son Marco who that day was only a few months old, while today he has graduated and is a young man full of life and dreams. The world has changed, the Olympics have changed and Today's heroes make yesterday's look like characters from black and white moviesYet we like to think that Fabio is still alive. And even though Annalisa is a big fan of Ligabue and thanks to Ligabue she managed to leave behind large pieces of pain, Thinking of Fabio we like to think of the verse of another great Emilian, more serious, with a beard and a soft r.
Take a deep breath and forget about the rest. Chase away those images and go back to when Fabio was a 22-year-old boy. Close your eyes; there's too much light in this room today. Listen to the guitar.But in my imagination I have his image, the heroes are all young and beautiful, the heroes are all young and beautiful, the heroes are all young and beautiful."
