«After the quartet I said that the track is my passion, but I would like to make a qualitative leap on the road too. I definitely have to keep working on it and take it as an objective, but it's also difficult to have a world championship as an objective if the path is prohibitive." Words from Vittoria Guazzini, athlete of FDJ-Suez, collected a few days ago.
The focus was primarily on time trials, but not only that. The "Guaz" appears to have enormous potential on several fronts, starting with the track. And here, between parquet and preparation, comes into play Diego Bragato, responsible for the performance of the Italian Cycling Federation and women's track technician.
Diego, let's start with what you can do. What does it mean to you to make a qualitative leap on the road? What kind of rider are you and what does it mean?
Actually, I also hope he makes a qualitative leap on the road, because I think he's got what it takes. He's already won some interesting races, so he's already shown off his skills in some way. But in my opinion... he can do it even in competitions of another level.
What do you mean by another level of competition?
In my opinion, it can start to be competitive even in some classics. La Paris-Roubaix Women's cycling It's the first one that comes to mind, given its characteristics. She can be a great finisher, given her acceleration and power. She's someone who can make the difference in tough races—not in terms of altitude, mind you—in the end. She can make important attacks. If I think about her characteristics, I see them even simply in Paris, in the Madison, when after a very tight race, with 40 laps to go, she made an attack that brought us the medal. That makes you understand who Vittoria Guazzini is: someone with an engine capable of making the difference in very tough races. I repeat, not hard because of the climbs or differences in altitude, but because of the 360-degree physical and mental demands.
Let's get a little more technical, Diego. How can you achieve this goal without losing on the track?
Let's say she's been a bit unlucky, because for a few years now, she hasn't been able to maintain much consistency due to injuries and crashes. If I think about Roubaix, when she destroyed her foot or ankle, or this year's Italian championship where she crashed... To stand out in that type of race you need volume and consistency and in my opinion that's exactly what she lacked on the road. I hope she can have a few full seasons to make that leap in quality. All she needs is that... and maybe even taking on a little more responsibility with the team.
That?
I follow Vittoria, I see her, I feel her. She's on a top team and often plays a supporting role, as a domestique. She's primarily involved in the first half of the race, where she really shines. But you have to know how to seize opportunities to show that you are ready to take on some more responsibility.
So, from a preparation point of view, not much needs to change in your opinion?
Basically no. Guazzini is working well with his team. I'm in frequent contact with the team and the trainer, because together we monitor the work he does on the road and on the track. And I must say they're working with great responsibility. In my opinion, the only thing lacking was consistency, due to too many injuries.
So, when you talk about a leap in quality on the road, we don't think of a technical or preparation revolution or even interventions that would see it lose mass?
No, at least for the type of races we were talking about before it is not necessary. If he wants to focus more on stage races or a different type of race in the future, then yes. But that's another matter. Right now, when he's rightly combining road and track, that's not the priority.
Guazzini has a great engine, long levers, and she enjoys time trials. How far can she go in this discipline? In short: how far is she from Marlen Reusser?
She's still missing a little more work. So far, we've worked more on pursuit and quartets. In my opinion, he hasn't yet fully defined his work on the real long time trials. It would need to be built in a targeted manner. Because even there, both mentally and physically, you have to get used to that kind of effort. And for now, also due to the demands coming from the track, we're focusing on shorter workouts.
An impartial assessment of her: what kind of "corridora" is Guazzini? And what margins does she have?
She needs to believe in herself a little more. She's strong, she knows it on the track, but she's losing some of the responsibility of being a strong athlete on the road too. She needs to take the right steps to acquire this mindset of a conscious athlete. In my opinion, that's the whole point.
Is there a particular race that made you realize something was missing?
Not really a race, but when we compare road and track I notice two different mentalities. And that's fine, he's still young and maturing. However, if we're talking about a qualitative leap, the mental one is the most important aspect.
A seemingly trivial question: all of you trainers often talk about consistency. Just look at the riders struggling to get back into form even after a simple injury. So why is consistency so crucial these days?
Because road tests now require high-quality expressions and very intense gestures, but after a certain volume. Some measure it in hours of work, others in watts, but the concept is the same: you need to accumulate a lot over time. Doing it all at once is impossible. The amount of work for the track is spread out over three or four years, for example. And even on the road, the process is multi-year. The demands of modern cycling, both women's and men's, are extremely high, the races are all high-level, and you can't improvise.
There are no more "preparatory" races, in short...
It's going from strength to strength. The specific requests today are to make high quality gestures after intense hours, after several kilojoules. And this can only be achieved by working continuously.
Very clear. Let's close with a slogan, Diego: where do you expect Guaz after this growth?
We'll be waiting for you at the velodrome... the one in Roubaix! I would say that velodrome is the ideal point of connection between road and track.
