Lorenzo Masciarelli continues to gain experience with the Colpack Ballan: in the last few days he was in Tuscany together with Drink water run acrossWe decided to speak to his sports director to find out how these first few months in Bergamo are going. Masciarelli, interviewed by us between Belvedere e recito, he said calmly, this is not the time to reap the fruits of his labor. In short, time will tell.
The adaptation
The Abruzzese rider comes from the world of cross and this sudden change of discipline it still makes itself felt a little. You can't expect to move from one commitment to another without laying a solid foundation.
«Masciarelli – says Antonio Bevilacqua – has always worked for cross-country and his training was all explosive in nature. The first thing we noticed in him was a lack of stamina, so together with our performance staffFusi, Giovani, and Mazzoleni decided to change our training. The most important thing was to get in a lot of hours on the bike to increase our endurance. We started working towards this goal at the February training camp in Calpe (opening Instagram photo). He didn't always train in a group, in fact, he practically had his own dedicated program.. The whole time we were in Spain he did a lot of hard work without ever exceeding a certain threshold of intensity."
Separate workouts
Bevilacqua explains very well what Masciarelli's condition was when he first arrived at Colpack. Lots of energy, but short-lived, as is right when your period of effort is concentrated in the winter of cyclocross.
"From the very first outings," he continues, "you could see he was in good condition. Unusual for someone who has to race on the road; or rather, too early. When the boys started to "play" on the steep slopes of Calpe, Masciarelli was always the liveliest one, but then it would fade away. Once we had built the base, we added some strength work, this around March, just before he started running. Then we added some repetitions at medium and medium-threshold. Finally, the last step was interval training, so 40-40 and 30-30."
Straight to the race
Masciarelli's racing debut was not long in coming, on March 19th in Montecassiano, he had already attached the number to the bikeA choice dictated by the need to immediately find the rhythm and feeling with the road.
"He did well in the first races," the sports director continues, "but that was to be expected. After all, Masciarelli was coming off a great run of form given his cyclocross commitments. However, we should not be fooled, this was a positive moment that would not last long.An example could be what happened between Piva and Belvedere. In the first race he did well, finishing in the top fifteen, but a week later, at Belvedere, his condition was already declining. But that's normal; the important thing for the boy now is to race, to gain experience. You don't have to think about the result, that will come in the future, we will think about the standings from June onwardsThe goal of the first few months was to get used to the asphalt; before now he had only competed in a few road races."
Tour? Maybe
One of the commitments that could await the young Abruzzese is the Giro d'Italia Under 23, the route should be released soon, from then on the plans will be clearer.
«The first part of the season – concludes Bevilacqua – was dedicated to fast riders, now we're thinking about the second half of the calendar. The races are getting tougher, right now it's easy to see guys going fastAs the months progress, the riders who are truly fit will emerge. We expect Lorenzo to be out in June. The Giro d'Italia should be one of his goals, but it will be difficult. Until we have the route, we can't choose the riders. If it turns out to be a tough course like last year's, we might leave the sprinters at homePlaces are limited: five, and the riders are all aiming to be part of the Giro d'Italia squad. The route should be presented on May 3rd, with the hope that it will help us have a clearer idea. For Masciarelli there will be opportunities to show off, if he doesn't do the Giro he will still have the Giro della Valle d'Aosta at his disposal".
