Paolo Tiralongo's Bike Sicilia Team, born last year With a great debut, it restarts with ten under 23s and the support of a junior team from Palermo that could be their nursery. There is nothing easy about this undertaking.If structured teams with a great history are struggling, imagine how difficult it is for a team trying to do business in Sicily and the forgotten South.
Once upon a time, during the election campaign, the various candidates would launch into projects and declarations. This time cycling in the South wasn't even touchedThey've received votes where possible, but the activity remains marginal: the starting point of the sporting desertification that many warn against.
«There is no generational change – reasons the Avolano who was pro from 2000 to 2017 – there are no kids who are keen on cyclingWe need to go to schools to promote it, we need to encourage schools to help us, perhaps by supporting the kids when they miss competitions. Instead, cycling in Italy is perceived as a nuisanceBecause it closes roads, because there are accidents. How do you find sponsors if this is the image?
Sicily, Tuscany and Lombardy
Il Team Bike Sicily He has a base in Tuscany, one in Sicily, and one in Bergamo. In the region where he ran extensively as an under-23, Paolo found his old friend again Leonardo Giordani, teammate in Vellutex and then in Fassa Bortolo, who gives him a hand as sports directorAnd the rest is all to be built, deserved, imagined, and realized. Some would say certain teams make no sense. But without them, who would go looking for riders in areas where cycling is struggling to grow?
«We are a small team – explains Tiralongo – and We are doing our utmost to give Sicilians an opportunityThe difficulty is finding riders who do the same and have the necessary motivation. On the sponsorship front, it's not like we're experiencing great times in Italy, but in the end we managed to break even for the year and that's already good».
This year there are also juniors, why?
We have done a twinning with Team Madone of Palermo and we provide them with technical and logistical support in Tuscany, in order to reduce their expenses. They came to race at the Baronti TrophyThey've been on the run, they've seen how it works. They're strong in multi-disciplines, they have quality guys who come from mountain biking.
Yesterday Visconti talked about how much more difficult it is today for a Sicilian boy to succeed.
He is right Giovanni, because the environment has changed completely. WorldTour teams go looking for the best young riders with I have to team up with a budget higher than that of professional onesThe others must make do with what remains. The problem is that even among the so-called best, few truly emerge, while this grassroots research is weakening the movement. development they compete with professionals and When the under 23s go to internationals, the differences are enormous.
Also because the activity of under-23s in Italy is no longer as qualified.
We did the Florence-Empoli and the Memorial Polese. We're not racing on Sunday; I don't feel like doing the criteriums. We need real races, not circuits with only 1.000 meters of elevation gain. An under 23 must run 180-190 kilometers with 2.500 meters of altitude difference. Instead, there is little substance in the Italian calendar, and how can you guarantee that a winner has the qualities to continue? Winning in itself does not count, it is better to always be protagonists and present in the arrival orders, this is how you see quality.
What schedule will you make?
I have made requests abroad and We will go to some races if we have the quality to be protagonists. If they invited us to the Giro Next Gen, I would be the first to ask him to leave us at home. Either you have the quality to race or you have to work to become better..
Even the best struggle to stand out?
The boys' goal is go to one development, don't pass by professionalsThey should aim to move to the number one team, instead I see many of them going to the I have to team up And they feel like they've already arrived. That's probably the direct route to the big teams, but how do you get there? Are you ready? The problem is not to become a professional, but to last long and go fastThey have to get this into their heads, because if you kill yourself to get through and then last five years, what have you accomplished?
How do you stay there?
You have to create the mindset first. They need to grow and truly understand what it means to be a professional. Then, of course, the qualities are also needed.Now, however, the way things work is that they take them from the juniors based on their tests, they go abroad, and if they don't make it, there are others behind them who push them. But if you get rejected at twenty, can you start again or do you quit without having proven who you are? The head counts more than the legsIf you have mental stimulation, keep going. Otherwise, you have to get out of the way.
What's there to see in cycling in Sicily?
There's Angelo Canzonieri's team. There's Giarratana's team. There are those of Monterosso Almo who organize the Cannarella Trophy. There's Mancuso's team, which is affiliated with Cene. The problem is finding the quality riderIt takes patience because there are very few good riders and it is difficult to get them because we cannot spend like a developmentThis is the difficulty of all teams, not just mine.
They say they don't leave anymore because they can't handle staying away from home for two years without taking money.
But do you think everyone took money back then? Do you know how many people at Vellutex didn't take a penny? I had my salary, of course too Visconti and Nibali, but because we were in the national team since we were juniors and we won racesQuality comes first, and then comes the money. Should they pay you just because you're Sicilian and you're leaving home? To get money, you have to work, improve, and figure out if you have what it takes to build a career.
How do you become better?
I always tell him. You like cycling and you chose to be a rider, but they are two very different things.To race a bike you have to make a lot of sacrifices, you have to be motivated. You have to want it, you can have great physical qualities, but if you don't put your mind to it, you won't get there. And above all, I tell him that A rider is made gradually, it's too easy to send them running to get everything at once.And what if it doesn't arrive?
