Team Vangi Sama Ricambi Il Pirata's season started with a bang thanks to the double success achieved in France. First international race and immediately a double brought home. The boys of Matteo Berti they arrive in foreign territory and lay down the law. Their sports director had told us this during the winter that the team would take a step forward in growth and training.
«It was a formative experience – says Berti – with a result that allows us to growThe race was for Northern riders, with plenty of power and endurance. The field was among the most highly regarded, with many satellite teams from WorldTour or U23 teams. We managed to place three boys in the top ten: first place for Leonardo Meccia, second Enea Sambinello and tenth Giacomo Sgherri (the first two are together in the opening photo by @labernaudeaujunior, ed.)».
Excellent planning
But houses are built from the foundations up. The success in France comes after a winter of planning and programmingBerti and the Vangi team staff have worked well and continue to do so.
«At the beginning of the season – continues the sports director – we did a very good job, without having any major health problems or anything else. Finding the right synergy to create a cohesive group is not easy, but we are doing a good job and I am proud of it.We'll also be the only team to race the Nations Cup Eroica, a stage race for national teams. It's a great source of pride and a great challenge to race against the strongest riders in the world.
«The work is not easy, right now I'm trying to optimize the costs of this trip. It's not impossible, but in a junior team the budget is limited. In fact, we have to thank our president every day, because he never lets us go without anything. In the future, we also have the Classic des Alpes and the Time Trial of Nations planned."
The voice of the boys
A race in France at the start of the season against the strongest of the junior movement and an immediate victory in the bag. Leonardo Mecchi, winner of the Bernaudeau Juniores tell us how this experience was and what he saw in cycling across the Alps.
“I was curious to find out what the riders outside Italy were like,” he told us, “to understand what would change. To see if they were stronger or weaker, smarter or had different skills in riding the bikeThe level in the end is similar to what you find in Italy, what's different is the way of racing, you go on the attack a lot. The start was quite turbulent, everyone wanted to be at the front and it was quite difficult. The race was mainly run on wide roads, interspersed with narrow streets that passed through small villages.. In those moments the rush became frenetic, there were people passing everywhere, even from the grass at the edge of the road."
A question of habit
Certain experiences are necessary for growth and maturation, even for adapting to a different way of running. This feeling came from talking to Berti and Mecchi. is that this race in France would have been useful anyway, with or without a prestigious result.
"Winning is nice," Berti replies, "and rightly so. But going to race in these places helps show the kids something new. It was not a complicated route in terms of altitude., but very hard due to the stress and the lack of flat terrain. At the start of the race I was in the team car behind the group, in the first 20 kilometers the speed never dropped below 60 km/hIt was a Northern-style race, perhaps more Liège-like, where there are no cobblestones but many steep climbs and you had to know how to file down to avoid tiring yourself too much."
«The climbs were short – confirms the winner Mecchi – all under a kilometre and a half. Not very hard, but with repetition they remained in the legsAt the beginning of the race I was also tense, not very calm, almost scared, then I fell and I calmed down. These experiences increase our technical baggage, so, once we return to Italy, we have an extra weapon to play on the fly."
