We still have in our eyes the images of the last Tour of Lombardy, with people going crazy on the side of the road to cheer for Fausto Masnada. Not just any Italian, because the rider of the Deceuninck-QuickStep he raced on the roads of his home, the ones where he lived and where he felt his visceral passion for cycling grow inside him. Experiencing a major event like the Giro di Lombardia on familiar roads, with your neighbor or friend at the bar cheering you on, has a special flavor.
"The child of the country”: an expression made famous in the world of two wheels by Adriano De Zan, who often cited it not only when naming the winners, but also simple gregarious riders who took advantage of the opportunity of the Giro d'Italia or any other event passing through their hometown, asking permission from the group to gain an advantage, just enough to allow them a quick greeting. A vestige of a cycling that no longer exists, now we're professional from the start and certain exceptions are almost no longer permitted...
World Cup, “nemo propheta in patria”…
It's also true, however, that winning at home has a special flavour. At the World Championships, for example, this event has only happened 12 times and we are not talking about athletes who win in their own city, but in their own nation., a pairing that has been achieved 4 times by Belgium (but the fifth one they were so hoping for this year did not come true...) and 3 times by Italy, in 1932 with Learco War, in 1968 with Vittorio adorni and in 2008 with Alessandro Ballan, the last one ever to do so.
We were quoting Guerra, the historic "human locomotive" who tasted the satisfaction of winning in front of his fellow citizens in 1931: the first stage of the Giro d'Italia arrived in Mantua that year and Guerra was very keen to win in front of his people, to be able to leave the next day with the symbol of the primacyAfter 206 kilometers he left Alfredo Binda and Michele Mara behind in the sprint And not content with that, he also won the next day in Ravenna. That Giro ended with four stage wins for him, but with the disappointment of a nasty crash in La Spezia that forced him to retire.
Giro d'Italia, another story...
Tour of Italy. Often riders have sought and even found victory on their home roads, but what if we were to look for a symbol of these images?
The mind can only go back a few years, to Gilberto Simoni who built his pink victories on the Pordoi, in a narrow corridor left free by the fans, pushing on the pedals to inflict an ever-increasing delay on his opponents. It is no coincidence that the career of the Trentino rider is closely linked to the Giro d'Italia, which It had an absolutely special flavour just when you were riding up the hills at home, those where as a child he had let his imagination wander seeing the champions of the time including his wife's uncle, a certain Francesco Moser...
What can I say then? by Stefano Garzelli, who won the 2005 Tre Valli VaresineHe had been waiting for 15 months to taste the sweet taste of victory again, he had studied the final part of the home classic in great detail, running it over and over again in training, especially the last 500 metres where he got on the wheel of Mazzoleni gregarious of Cunego and anticipating the predictable move of the Veronese he jumped ahead Bernucci. The race arrived in Campione d'Italia, the mother's native town and the place where her sisters lived. How could he not win?
At home and at heart
A bit of the same thing that applies to Fabio Ulissi. In 2017 the native of Cecina, just arrived at the UAE Team Emirates, he immediately wanted to impress his new "employers" and on the roads of his home, the scene of his winter preparation, he exploited his knowledge of the route and in particular of the descent towards Donoratico.
“I know it like the back of my hand,” he said after the award ceremony. “I was born here and I could do it with my eyes closed, knowing where to start.”
He had finished on the podium twice without achieving the result he cared most about: for the locals, that edition remained in their hearts. And then, speaking of descent, isn't it the same principle that Masnada applied?
When we talk about “enfant du pays”, there is a recent image that makes its way into our memory. For Vincenzo Nibali those tears shed at the arrival of the conclusion of the last Tour of Sicily contain infinite meaningsImagine what it means to win again, after everything he's been through these last two years, everything you've read and heard about him, those maddening doubts in his soul, in front of his own people, those same people he left so many years ago, he, like so many Sicilians, to seek his fortune on the continent? There was no better place for the Shark to return to bite the bullet for success. Sometimes even great men cry…
