It hasn't been an easy season for Mastromarco Sensi Nibali, the president's team Carlo Franceschi. At the beginning of the year, the kids were completely overwhelmed by Covid, but then, fortunately (and thanks to their skill), they managed to straighten things out quite a bit.
At the Giro U23 this year we met the expert sports director, historian “Nibali's Tuscan father”, who, a little disheartened, said to us, spreading his arms: "You do what you can." In fact, it was precisely during that period that his boys were starting to feel better. But it's one thing to start feeling better, and another to clash with those who are at the peak of their season. There's a big difference.
Crackling finale
"Exactly," says Franceschi, "that's how it went in the first half. And so we didn't push our guys too hard in terms of preparation. The iron to shape it must be struck when it is hot and not when it is cold. Because it's not so much the Covid, but what comes after it. Recovery takes a long time. So we made them run less, we pushed training less. Then, when we saw, also from the tests, that they were feeling better and recovering well, we started pushing harder.
«From July onwards we have won four races and have almost never fallen off the podium. To avoid wasting too much time, after the Giro we didn't even go to altitude, but preferred to train at home. Because to be really strong at altitude, you need a month. And we had already spent enough time."
Franceschi talks about a year that has finally straightened out quite a bit. His players have been good and now three of them will go through with the Bardiani Csf Faizané.
«They pass me Martin Marcellusi, Filippo Magli e Alessio Nieri. Marcellusi is our best-known rider. He won the final time trial in Ponsacco and the week before he had won the Mario Zanchi Trophy. He attacked on the final wall and was out the whole lap, really nice move.
«Alessio Nieri (born in 2001, ed.) didn't win but he's a good climber. A pure climber. And then there's Philip Magli. Look, he's only won one race, but this guy has a ton of good finishes. He's very consistent. I'm convinced he'll feel better in the pros, who race a little more regularly, than in the amateurs. This intern has already done a few races and has been in the lead for a long time."
Marcellusi in the Ponsacco time trial, the last race of the season he won Magli Intern: Here he is in a Bardiani jersey and a Cannondale bike from Mastromarco Nieri will also be part of the Greenteam. Very thin, he's a true climber.
Marcellusi in the Ponsacco time trial, the last race of the season he won Magli Intern: Here he is in a Bardiani jersey and a Cannondale bike from Mastromarco Nieri will also be part of the Greenteam. Very thin, he's a true climber.
Towards 2022
But for one season that ends, another one begins. The roller coaster continues, and Franceschi has already set the stage for Mastromarco 2022.
«It will be a young team – says the Tuscan technician – a team made up of 12 boys. I've signed three juniors. Next year we'll probably be a bit short, and we'll have to work with a view to the future to help the kids grow. But that's okay. We'll rotate them well in the races."
"Is it more stimulating to work with these guys or with those who are already successful? For my part, it's stimulating to work both when you already have a good rider and when, like next year, you have to build him. But it's all the same thing. You work on it, you raise it to become a thoroughbred. And if you manage to make him look professional, you say: well, I did a good job. And you're satisfied."
Too much haste
And on the subject of cycles, Carlo, from the height of his experience, makes a very interesting speech on the state of Italian amateurism.
"As far as the U23s are concerned, there's really very little. It's a bit of a mixed bag at the moment. Sometimes you get batches with a lot of players and other times with very few. Right now, among the U23s, aside from something we've seen from Colpack and maybe Zalf, I don't see much quality around. And the same among the juniors: I followed some races."
«And then today we don't even give them time to grow up or even find the kids. Because if there's already a "good" junior, the pro teams immediately take him. At most, he'll spend a year as an amateur. You don't have time to work on it. These kids are overused in the juniors and their first year as U23s. They have school, bikes... too much pressure. I then try to get them to understand that they still have a step forward in their growth. But today, in most cases, they no longer have any margins. And in fact, they work for a year or two... and then go looking for work."
