Villa and Viviani have reinvented the Italian track since 2010 and brought it to the top of the world. And today, the Veronese he hung up his bike and the technician was moved to the street, one might think that the cycle has ended. Instead their legacy is more alive than everVilla has moved on to the road, but a few days ago he led the girls to gold with the quartet. And Viviani, who is enjoying his vacation in Colombia, seems poised for a leading role in the national team.
Who better than Villa to explain what Viviani meant to the Italian track? For this reason we… kidnapped him for almost an hour between stories and anecdotes, which we subsequently had to dry so as not to keep you in front of the screen for so long (in the opening the two are in Guadeloupe for the 2014 European Championships).
When did you first discover Elia Viviani's existence?
I was still racing and I remember the name of this kid who ran and easily won in his category. I think we also crossed paths in a race in AigleHe was brought up there by Chemello, the regional coach, who introduced him to me. Later, I met him again when I was working with Colinelli and I started to get to know him. He already had clear ideas and the predisposition to plan, to put everything in order: appointments, projects, ambitions.
Were the 2012 London Olympics really as much of an adventure as he makes it out to be?
It was a project in progress, Elijah was chasing the qualification and had achieved itIn London we had a very small box and our own training schedules. So we did our part and then we stopped at look at how England was organised, which had a bigger box, in which David Brailsford commanded and dominated, after the Australian years. And we were there watching them all with a bit of envy, but also with the desire to grow. They seemed unattainable, something inimitable.
Was the blue track in such bad condition?
In that moment more results were achieved in the women's category, which had a higher budgetI had a hard time asking for money in the men's category because we weren't getting results. Luckily, the first sponsors arrived. Pinarello made aerodynamic bikes in the wake of Wiggins' Hour Record, which we could never have bought. We had Viviani, Bertazzo, Scartezzini, Consonni, and at the time there was Buttazzoni. A group of promising boys, who had some talentsBut we went to the World Cups and we were behind in everything, even in methodology.
Was it all still to be built?
I started copying the others, no one explained to me how we were supposed to do it. I spent more time on the track than in the hotel, because after training I would stop to look at the others, what kind of work they did. I was walking around the garage studying the materials and taking photos with my cell phone. to understand some technical aspects to ask our partners.
What was Viviani's role in this phase?
We started together. I did my own thing and he gave me feedback. He came to the track even if he had to train and race on the road and for this he was an exampleThe others saw him do what I asked of him and then win on the road and they felt more confident in answering the call-ups and asking to go to the World Cup. There were teams that said no and They replied that if Viviani did it and then won on the road, it would probably have been good for them too.In this, Elijah was invaluable.
At the Liquigas team where he raced, the team manager was Amadio, who now holds the same role in the national team…
He believed in the track more amadio of its sports directors. I once found myself in a lunch organized by Lombardi with Paolo Zani, who was the owner of the team. For the first ten minutes, he had me against the wall: "So what do you want from the Federation? You know we're paying Viviani?". Then I started telling him that he'd come to the track on Thursday and then won on the road on Sunday. "I don't want the credit," I told him, "but don't tell me it hurt him. And in the meantime, he finished second in the world championship in the scratch race." In the end I managed to soften even a person with a great temperament like Zani.But I have to say that without Elia's results, no one would have understood that this could work.
Multidisciplinary work that works…
Who made Van der Poel and Van Aert great with the cross and made Viviani was the best Italian road rider in the years leading up to the Rio Olympics and in the years immediately after.It wasn't by chance, just as it's no coincidence that Ganna is one of the best on the road and in time trials. And it's no coincidence that Milan is one of the best on the road today, and he also comes from the track.
Rio 2016 and Viviani wins gold in the omnium.
We knew he was fine, though. He had also come first at the final test in London, although the omnium had a different layout and the last test was the kilometer, which turned all the cards. And in the end, from being first, we found ourselves sixth.. Even in Rio we were ahead in the last test, so when Elijah fell, I felt like I was reliving the curse of LondonInstead, he reacted immediately, won a couple of sprints, and took the lead. By the penultimate sprint, he had the victory in his pocket, and we enjoyed the last ten laps. I told him to stay calm, as long as he didn't crash. And he looked at me as if to say: I'm in control and I'm enjoying the last laps.
Have you ever argued?
We've always spoken openly, we've always had almost the same ideas and the idea of working in the same direction. He probably always followed what I told him because he was in tune and trusted me.Never argued, only at the World Championships in London before Rio, in the last sprint it seemed that Cavendish and Gaviria had given him the cold shoulder. He got off his bike, disappeared and I didn't see him for three hours.Luckily there was Elena (Cecchini, his wife, ed.), who was with him the whole time.
What had he gone to do?
He disappeared, went down to the pits and then when I saw him again he told me. "But what am I going to Rio for if I'm not capable of winning?"I replied that he would come to Rio and compete to win. At that moment, Elena gave me another big hand. Elia has always had the right people around him, the ones he wanted first.Elena, Lombardi, maybe me too. And I assure you, she knows how to choose the people she surrounds herself with very well.
Did you think he would arrive in Chile with a chance to win?
If we're talking about elimination and he's got the legs, he can beat anyone, because he's acquired a technique that few have. I would have been sad if he'd retired, as they wanted him to do when he couldn't find the right team. Instead Elia always told me that he would stop when he decided to.. And when he found the Lotto, he's been saying since January that he'd finish after the World Cup in Chile, trying to win one last time. That's what I remembered the other day when I saw him win: a year ago he told me this and finally he did itHe proved he can still win on the road and finished with a rainbow jersey on the track.
In Tokyo the quartet won gold: what was Viviani's role in that case?
He was very present and as an Olympic champion he tried to bring his charismaElia was the reserve of that quartet, and when he realized I was thinking of having him run in the final, he got in the way. "Marco," he told me, " if you want to win gold, you have to go with these fourDon't even think about putting me in because I trained with them. I'm not interested in a medal. I'd love to participate, but the quartet that can win is the one that took us to the final and set the world record. Beating Denmark will be difficult, but they are the strongest four». He was right and in any case after a few days he also took the bronze medal in the omnium.
We've summarized 15 years of our life together in 8 minutes. Will it be strange to go to Montichiari and never see Elia Viviani again?
I'm sure Whatever assignment he has, he will always call meEven in my role as a road technician, he called me every ten days and asked me how I was doing and if I had received the answers I was waiting for. We talked and he was always close to me.I confess that during one stage of the Vuelta I couldn't talk to a rider, so I asked him to go and have a chat to see how he was doing. He helped me there too.
There are no children or stepchildren, but can we say that Viviani was the Azzurri player with whom you bonded the most?
It's not a matter of having preferences. Also, if you were to ask Ganna the same thing, He would tell you that he also confides in Elia as if he were his technician.. And so did the others. They recognized him. the role he deserves and that he has built over the years with his consistency, simply being… Elia Viviani.
