Francesca Baroni clocks up the miles practically 365 days a year. Once the cyclocross bike is put down, take the road bike and vice versaAfter a winter season on the mud, I ran with the Belgians of the team Pissei – Groep TOM, who showed off her qualities, returned to wear the jersey of Aromitalia-Basso Bikes-Vaiano. The season ended in Belgium on February 26th with the Internationale Sluitingsprijs – Oostmalle ed March 4th was at Strade Bianche.
A subtle balance
Matteo Ferrari, sports director of Aromitalia, is one of the coordinators of the dual activity of BaroniThe team returned a few days ago from Spain, more precisely from Andalusia where they ran the Ruta del Sol.
«Francesca (Baroni, ed.) is fine – Ferrari tells us – she is totally concentrated on the road, She will now take a short break to prepare for the Italian championships and the Giro d'Italia DonneAfter that he will focus on cross-country, even if he still has one or two races with us. We're walking a fine line, true, but As long as the results come, you can't complain., on both sides.
«The secret, if we want to call it that – continues the sports director – is communication. Everything is set up differentlyThe contacts are made first with Baroni, then with her trainer, and finally with the cyclocross team. Francesca is helped in all of this by her great professionalism, he lives the life of an athlete, totally».
Shorter periods
Baroni and Aromitalia-Basso Bikes-Vaiano take advantage of every moment to recover and then run, there's no room even for a cold, but the system works. This is thanks to the balance found with Pissei.
«He leaves the cross season in February – Ferrari always says – we take advantage of the winter work a bit and get it running right awayThis year, as soon as she returned from Belgium, she immediately came to the Strade Bianche. She has good legs, given the many races she did during the winter. but the period of form is shorterThe idea was to take her to Cittiglio, but a bout of flu stopped her at the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa. That's why we took her to race in Belgium, even though it wasn't planned. Baroni spreads what is the classic break period of a month into several micro-periodsThe first was in March, the second is coming now before preparing for the Italian Championships and the Giro, and the last will be in July before throwing myself back into cyclocross."
A peak of form (and a half)
Clearly when an athlete divides himself into two activities he must work at his bestIf you have five months on the road instead of the usual nine, everything needs to be recalibrated. You need to choose your goals systematically and work hard to achieve them.
«The way she is – explains Ferrari – the more Francesca runs the better she feels, in fact she is one of those girls who pushes to compete. So much so that sometimes we have to stop itWith her, we can aim for a peak form every year, one and a half if you count the one we exploit when she arrives from Belgium. This season, we've focused on the Italian championship and the Giro Donne. There is no time to do the work of winter preparation, and there is no need to.Her condition is always good, she's improving in several areas, especially endurance and strength. Cyclocross is good for her and it shows.
«Once the most intense period is over – concludes the sports director – Baroni begins to focus on the cyclocross seasonFor example, the last race she's supposed to do with us is the Giro di Toscana, from August 24th to 27th, but she'll already be working there to get ready for cyclocross. Also because its season starts early: mid-September. All in all, it takes 70 days of racing."
