STIRLING – Guazzini arrives dragging her steps, with her bike on one side and her helmet on the other. She's stood still for a long time at the finish line, dealing with her heartbeat, and the first thing she does is... He drained a bottle of water, pulling so hard that he crushed the plasticThe clock was merciless: 32nd at 4'32, like on some mountain in the Giro or the Tour.
Speaking briefly with Roberto Amadio, it was clear that the season planning for these girls was disorganized: they could win much more and better, but they run without respite and even less planning. Next year, to prepare for the Olympics, we will need to set some limits..
A bad day can happen, but it's not easy to take certain defeats when you're a world-class time trialist. Victory, however, comes. He stops. He shows an exhausted smile.Look into his eyes. He must have been crying.
Victory, the time trial is beautiful, but also a bastard.
I've never said it was beautiful, not even when I was going strong (laughs, ed.). Nowadays, look, It's already a lot if I reached the finish lineJokes aside, at the first right turn, I seriously thought I wouldn't make it.
Is this the sum of all this crazy year?
The fall it certainly didn't help (In April Vittoria broke her pelvis, ed.), but today I just couldn't move forward. At the Tour things went much better, regardless of the result. It's not that I'm looking for excuses left and right, but For a few days I felt like I was stuckWhen I say certain things it's because they're true.
Can you explain it? The sum of too much effort?
Maybe, let's see. Now there's no point in beating around the bush.Of course there are good days and bad days, there's no escape from that. But I knew that Today the only thing was for a miracle to really happen, otherwise… But we know that only one person up there performed miracles.
And it ended badly. Is it time to pause and take stock?
In theory I should run the Tour of Scandinavia from 23 August, because, I don't know how to say it... Let's say that these bad days weren't planned, but we are all human and we'll see. Now I'm going to take off this bodysuit, then I'll think about the rest.
Yesterday morning we saw you talking to your trainer.
He tried to cheer me up a little, because the head also plays its partBut I knew it wasn't just my head. In a time trial, you understand how it's going to end. You don't know how or what the others can do, though. if you do it to win, it's important to have the right parameters.
What did your data say today?
I haven't seen it well yet, but I think my parameters were more than 100 watts less, so what are we talking about? When I say I thought I wouldn't finish it's because I really thought I wouldn't reach the finish lineIf there weren't any barriers, I would have actually continued straight on.
Looking ahead to next year, given how this one went, is there anything we need to change? The accident is fine, but it feels like you're really racing.
Let's say it's a series of things that have come together. One leads to another and then to make everything work a patch is put in place…
But in the cutting and sewing process, you're the ones who get caught up in it...
Oh well (smiles, ed.), we always try to do everything as best we canBut we don't have a crystal ball. Maybe I'd arrive here after the Tour and, as they say, glide. Instead I got there and I ended up there.
Was the Tour that tough?
I've had some of the worst days… No, I have to put today in first place, we went to the top of the rankingBut at the Tour I really had some terrible quarters of an hour, even though I felt better day after day. In fact In the time trial I finished eighth, which is still a top 10 in the TourI was happy, I felt like I was pushing. Today instead I went down the ramp and In the first 100 meters, which were downhill, my legs already hurt.
Vollering also paid the price in the Tour and did not do better than sixth place…
But Demi had a great season, If I were her I would be more than satisfiedBad days can happen for everyone, but that doesn't take anything away from a champion like this.
Could it be that you passed your time trial superpowers on to Lorenzo (his teammate Milesi, who won yesterday in the U23 category, ed.) and they don't work for you anymore?
No, I'm happy for him (laughs, ed.). Anyway, he deserves it and it made me cryToday, however, I cried for other reasons.
Come on, better days are definitely coming.
Better, huh? Let's hope so, because the worse it will be hard…
Something to think about
At the end of February we had done an interview with her, with a rather eloquent title: “Guazzini's 2023, without respite from February to August”. He had removed the irons from the Roubaix crash the year before, then the season had begun with the European Championships on the track: silver in the quartet and bronze with Elisa Balsamo in the Madison. Then would come the phase of the classics, from there the Tour Femmes and then the World Cup. Everything could have gone perfectly if the pelvic fracture hadn't occurred.. Shouldn't this have prompted some change of program? The same wouldn't have been necessary for Elisa Balsam, lined up for the Tour after a challenging recovery?
The Women's cycling's WorldTour has frenetic pace and always few girlsThe national team finds itself taking whatever crumbs it can. Perhaps setting limits will soon become a necessity for the girls themselves. Otherwise we will continue to exhaust ourselves., without horizons or great prospects.
