The juniors are also about to leave. And since the discussions of the last few days have been a bit mixed up, between Bartoli which hit hard, Boscola which proved him right, Damilano who has set some limits and Snails which sounded the alarm, between one curiosity and another about the season that is starting, we thought of involving Gianluca BortolamiThe Milanese is on retreat in Castagneto Carducci with his GB Junior Team (Belletta leads the group at the beginning, photo by Nardo) and in addition to telling us how things are going, she puts her idea on the table for how to help young people grow. And his voice is as heavy and incisive as Bartoli's.
Gianluca is a boy born in 1968, He was a professional from 1990 to 2005. He won 33 races, among which the Tour of Flanders in 2001 wearing the Caldirola jersey stands out., even though in 1994 they had already achieved a stage in the Tour and the victory in the World Cup with the successes in Leeds and Zurich.
Let's go in order, where are we at with the juniors?
Aside from a few people who contracted Covid and delayed their departure, we're doing fine. Using the same training routes, we can evaluate the improvements of those in their second year and we get an idea of the first years, which are less structured. The guys download the data every day, and based on what we see, we adjust our approach.
Do you take care of the preparation directly?
There's me, but there's also Loris Ferrari, also sporting director, who follows the testing aspectWe often compare ourselves based on what each of us sees.
Have you been on retreat or always at home?
Winter at home, while On Wednesday we left for Castagneto Carducci and we're staying here for ten daysWe would have liked that. starting in Cesano Maderno and the race for Franco Ballerini, where I would have brought Belletta and looked after her personallyInstead, they have already reached the 120 starters limit and so we will debut in Cesano Maderno.
How is Belletta?
He also had Covid in December and we tried to proceed with caution. We're in line with last year, he still has the same great motivation. We did a race in Switzerland ten days ago near Grenchen and he won one of the three races. We went to get some information on how he was doing and We are progressing well and above all we still have time to get to the start of the season as we should.And it will be a long, intense season; we'll have to give him time to conserve his strength.
Is someone like him, with victories on the road and a world championship on the track, already an object of desire for pro teams?
Some WorldTour teams have already come forward, but the boy and his family have decided to trust me and the team. He wants to grow and I have known him since he was little, while before he had been raised very well by Luciano Fusar Poli, playing with the bicycleHe's an intelligent boy and knows how to make appropriate assessments.
What is the goal at the start of this season?
The will of be a junior without rushingIf he goes strong, he can move up to the U23 level with anyone. But I won't hide from you that we are trying to make a team to follow him and the othersIt's not easy to find sponsors, but we're working on it.
And here we come to Bartoli's point: to what extent is it right to keep him in cotton wool?
I fully agree with what Michele said.I even passed before him and I ran against riders from the Soviet Union and those from the GDR (East Germany, ed.) and when they were there, if things went well I came in third. If you want to grow, you need to have high-level experiencesIf a boy wants to grow, he must compete with the strongest. When you go pro, nobody cares about your age anymore.
How will you deal with Belletta?
I believe that The first two years as U23s can be quiet, even if during these we can get a little bit of a push when comparing ourselves with the older playersAnyone who manages a talented young player must know how to calibrate him, evaluate his experience, and when, if ever, to focus on results. As has always been done. If you were content to run on the local circuit, you didn't grow and you don't grow.Going to international competitions with the strong ones is the motivation we need.
Let's go back to Bartoli: victories in small races don't make you grow.
We had many riders who passed U23 without competing at a high levelThere are few junior teams that go abroad to compete. We are there, there is the Bardelli Dancers teamSometimes regional teams go there. And out there you compete with riders who then see themselves dominated by professionalsIn the summer we will go to do a stage race in Belgium with the studentsMind you, not to get results, but to gain experience.
An important experience…
I don't want to be presumptuous, but if we want to grow we have to do it like this. Even with the help of parents, who allow us to do it. When I was a kid, it already seemed like a lot to me to go running outside the region, going abroad is like touching the sky with a fingerAnd running in Belgium helps the kids understand what it means run with the wind and the water without complaining like they do up thereAnd it works. When they come back, they're never the same again. Certain experiences allow you to make the decisive mental leap.
