GOSSAU (Switzerland) – A stroke of genius. Perhaps less so than the attack with which Pogacar won the world championship, but an unexpected blow that brought Italy Madison's Olympic goldSerious stuff, in short. The stroke of genius is the attack with which on the evening of August 9th at the gates of Versailles, Vittoria Guazzini gained the round, laying the foundation for victory. She did so instinctively, defying Chiara Consonni's recent advice to adopt a less aggressive tactic.
Everyone's tired
So, taking advantage of a moment of waiting before the time trial of Zurich 2024, we intercepted Vittoria, trying to understand how a stroke of genius actually comes about. From what combination of instinct and calculationEspecially when faced with a time trialist and a chaser of international standing, accustomed to punctuating her performances with the rhythm of the stopwatch. She listens and smiles; it's rare for the "Vitto" not to smile. And perhaps This lightness of spirit was the trigger for the attack.
"Surely the madison is a different race from the quartet and the time trials – he says – because there everything is a bit more mathematical, numbers, watts. You need a lot of understanding with your partner and then a bit of flair, let's put it that way. The Paris race was a tight one from the start and I had noticed for a while that almost everyone was strugglingWe couldn't be the only ones who were tired. I saw that the other nations had all sprinted, so at a certain point I thought it was time. And I said to myself: "Now I'll attack. And if it goes badly, I'll start again like before.""".
A trap for Chiara
It seems easy, but it isn't at all. The Madison is a frenetic and To seize the right moment you need to have legs and the ability to read your opponents' movementsIt takes the instinct of a sprinter and the rapid execution of a rock guitarist. Is victory more improvised or measured in seconds and thousandths?
«It depends – he laughs – Victory changes based on what the race requires. Certainly in a time trial like here in Switzerland, I don't know how much improvisation there is, especially if the course is challenging and you have to push. It was beautiful to experience those emotions in Paris. And it's true that Chiara told me not to do anything rash, but in fact I didn't say anything to her. I thought: “You’ll see, when I get there, he’ll have to give me the relief!”. But I knew she had the leg, so I didn't say it just to avoid upsetting her mentally. I had no doubt we'd make it."
Return empty-handed
In the end, Consonni appreciated it, which was inevitable. She too had noticed the movements of the other couples and In the end she was very happy to go along with her partner's game., who meanwhile continues his story.
"There were so many sprints that the other nations kept throwing themselves into it," he recalls, "and we were always at the limit, so I'd been thinking about it for a while. I kept saying to myself: 'I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, and when I see the light, I'll go!'" And when we arrived with about forty laps to go, I thought it was the right time and I went. We came from the quartet, a huge disappointment for everyone, because we had hoped for it. We've been working together for many years, and needless to say, we deserved it, because I think all quartets deserved it. No one gets there by chance. But it seemed to me that we didn't deserve to go home empty-handed. Let's say that disappointment was an extra motivation to give everything."
Between Balsamo and Consonni
The unscheduled event, beyond the attack, is that the habit of the blue madison in recent years has seen Guazzini paired with Balsamo more than with Consonni. Tokyo's regret was perhaps having dismantled the pair that had just won the European championships of the specialty. But here the discussion turns to the shared pasts in Valcar jersey and the years in the national team since the juniors, which made this group a very close-knit band.
«Let's say that Elisa and Chiara – he says – are much faster than me, and maybe I have a little more pace. So in terms of characteristics we complement each otherIt's true that perhaps I've run more with Elisa, especially recently. But with Chiara there is a great understanding both on and off the bike, so in the end it wasn't that difficult for us to adapt. They also have very different personalities; Chiara is more extroverted. But then on the bike, everyone brings out the right competitive nastiness.
"I realized we'd won the Olympics when I took the last substitution. We were right there with the Dutch, while the English were ahead and would have taken the last ten points, but they were more than ten behind, so at that point it was done. I really enjoyed the last few laps.I understood that we had won the race, but from there to realizing that we had won the Olympics was something incredible. I looked at the girls, the boys, my parents who were there in the stands and I thought that this time we had done something really bad.».
She's only watched the race once, at least so far. "In the morning with Chiara," she admits, "because we got back to the hotel in the morning. We took a shower and then we said to each other: “Come on, let's watch the race, we didn't understand anything.” Then we happened to see some clips they sent here and there. Now, the track season ends with the World Championships in Copenhagen. But they won't be the ones that will allow us to make up for the disappointment of the quartet. We can only do that Los Angeles, but it's too early to talk about it now."
