One day, the history of cycling took a different turn. One day, the culture of two-wheeled sport and the Olympics finally married, after decades of ignoring each other. It's true, the history of the Olympics in cycling dates back almost to its very beginnings, but until 1992 only amateurs competed in the road race, with a clear inequality between the countries of the communist bloc, where sport was state-owned, and the others. That year, however, the IOC had decided to open the doors of the Olympics to professionals: everyone remembers the 1992 Barcelona edition as the Dream Team American basketball player, who offered an unforgettable spectacle. In cycling, we had to wait four years, but the Atlanta race it didn't strike the imagination of fans. For that of Sydney, September 27, 2000, was different: then the history of cycling changed and it was thanks to two Italians.
Attack Ullrich
The evolution of that race was as simple as it was revolutionary: with about thirty kilometers to go, German Jan Ullrich, fresh from second place in the Tour de France behind Armstrong, called upon two of his teammates from Telekom, compatriot Andreas Kloden and Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov and went on the run with themThree men meant a monopolised podium and since the three belonged to the same team (even though the Olympics are run by national teams) it meant that their race would from then on become a team time trial. Almost impossible to reach them, but two Italians tried: Michele Bartoli and Paul Bettini.
Two Tuscans of iron, companions in MapeiAn attempt that might have seemed unrealistic, but precisely because of this kind of tilting at windmills, the history of cycling changed. Why? Simple: until then, in every cycling race, including the World Championships, it was believed that only the winner counted; no one remembered the second-place finisher, least of all at the World Championships. At the Olympics, three win and they really win.They knew they had to try, even though it was a hopeless undertaking.
Two blues on the hunt
After so many years, when he thinks back on it Michele Bartoli's voice still crackles: «I was left with the typical disappointment of fourth place, because we could have wonThe Olympic race is special because it brings together a few professionals you face during the year with many other riders who come from less prominent nations, who you don't know. Then There are 5 people per team and you can't control the race, so we need to be more focused, and we didn't have it at the crucial moment. This is why the Olympics are so difficult to win."
That pursuit was less unrealistic than one might think, because the two Italians really believed in it: «We had to try and we got really close to three.Let's say we were missing a third Mapei rider – Bartoli continues – then we would have competed on equal terms, but it would have been enough to have another rider capable of giving us some changes and we would have caught up with them».
Bettini and the curve
Paolo Bettini is even more specific: «If we didn't get them back, it was because of me.The race had been a battle since the morning, and Di Luca and I were the ones assigned to work the hardest to keep Bartoli, but also Casagrande and Pantani, covered. In the final part of the race I was finished, but I found myself chasing Michele. I remember that towards the end we had arrived about forty meters away, near a bend, but As soon as I turned I couldn't restart the action and the gap doubledAt that point we understood that the race was over, but I had no more…».
Something different
In a different race, like a great classic, maybe you wouldn't even try: «It's a different thing – Bartoli continues – because you have more teammates and you can manage the race in many other ways. It's an individual competition there. We had to try even though we knew it was difficult."
«It's true – Bettini replies – but there I understood that the Olympics is something special, because three people win: for example, I won a silver medal at the World Championships, but no one remembers it, almost not even me, because whoever comes in second is a… Oh well, you get the idea!
Athens Project
Yet that epilogue (Bartoli ended up winning the sprint of the defeated group, Bettini finished in the rear and the race was won by Ullrich) had an enormous weight for the Livorno-based Grillo, who won the following edition.
«I was young in Sydney – he says – but I understood that I could win, that I actually had to work to win. 2000 was a pivotal year for my careerI had won Liège, proving that I could compete for any classic, then I started thinking about Athens and I wasn't wrong. Some time ago I went to Portugal to visit Paulinho, silver behind me. As a professional he hasn't won anything, but in his country he's still considered a hero: that's what the Olympics are."
Two schools
Since then the Olympic race has become a major goal: «The culture has changed and history has changed – says Bettini – in our times the patron Lefevere hated the Olympics because they interfered with the season, especially with the Tour. Today it is not like that, so much so that many are planning their season around the Tokyo race and they are ready to give up the Tour, but in the teams nobody protests because they know how much the Olympic race matters."
«But I am tied to the old school – Bartoli continues – I can't give the Olympics the same value as a World Cup or a classical monument, because that's what a career is based on."
«I understand Michele's idea precisely because it is daughter of a more traditional thought – Bettini replies – more linked to the history of cycling, but I'll tell you one thing: I won two world championships, but I would gladly trade a rainbow jersey for an Olympic bronze, because I have experienced first-hand what it means to be an Olympic athlete. When I think about it, it still gives me the shivers…».
