If for a football coach entering during the season is always a burdensome and complicated commitment, imagine when it comes to cycling, especially youth cycling. But Rino De Candido (on the left in the opening photo) at over 70 years old, has seen it all and is certainly not afraid of this. The former national junior player was hastily called up to theUC Trevigiani Energiapura Marchiol when the rift between the company and the sports director Spools it has become incurable.
His work could only be partial in this 2025, closed with a double victory (the first successes of the season) thanks to Richard Perani who then left the team like others, and we'll come back to this. De Candido's assessment is still quite positive: «Trevigiani is one of the oldest companies in Italy, with a history that also represents a responsibility. I didn't expect this opportunity – he recalls – one day the cell phone rang and they asked me if I was available to face a situation that had become difficult.You would be the right person to be able to solve it", they told me, and suddenly I found myself working to rebuild the group a bit and start over. Just like a football coach, when he joins a team midway through the season, it always creates a bit of an imbalance, because the riders were used to it differently."
How did you approach this commitment?
I want to bring something innovative into the company, which truly has to do with a continental company in every respect. The president gave me the task and is in favor of this situation and therefore I am moving in this direction.
They're all very young, between 18 and 22. Having always worked with young people, do you find them different from how they were a while ago?
A lot, but the whole mentality at a cycling level in the entire environment has changed. Kids today know everything about everythingThey start out with a wealth of information that was unimaginable in the past. Therefore, you must be very frank with them, truthful, and concrete in telling them exactly how things are and how they should be to help them achieve their goals. We live with this unbridled mentality of wanting to get to the professional field right away, with the paradox that at 22 they already feel old, neglected.
A system you never really liked…
I always say that things need to be thought through a little, maybe There are kids who at 17-18 years old are already physically fit, but mentally they are not yet mature enough to make that leap. and we know well that you have to know how to hold on with your head even before with your legs... Some people can't handle these stresses, these situations far from home. I say that It takes patience, maybe another year or two to do things with more passion and tranquility and don't immediately throw them into a vortex that crushes and consumes you.
The only win came right at the end of the season, with Perani, who also won't be playing next year. Should we judge this season negatively, or do you think it's normal, especially considering there was a mid-season change?
I don't find it entirely negative. We had two victories with Perani, then we had six second places with Blacksmith, a good young sprinter and this reassures me because honestly I didn't have the team to be able to sprint or do other things of a certain level. We had to get to the end of the year and I have to say that towards the end they started to move as a team. If we look at Trevigiani from a few years ago, I also understand that there was a lack of victories, but we must also understand that I took it in the middle of the year and In my opinion there were some kids who didn't have the potential to aspire to a high level.
You've always worked with very young people. Is there anyone among these kids who has caught your attention and shows potential?
Of this year's group, only two remain: Cafueri who is doing cyclocross and Fabbro. We have already taken four other good junior boys who can give a lot if managed calmly, also because they have schoolThe greatest have passed, now there is a fairly general leveling among those who remain. There is no Finn o the Agostinacchio, but I believe that by managing them in the correct and proper way as I intend, we will be able to get something good out of them in terms of results.
Does your real work begin there with the meeting you had at the beginning of the month?
Exactly, we have some kids who just came through and then other riders that I took from other teams. I want to give my own approach to everything that is involved in the preparation, that everyone is involved in a very strong way, that there is a good group also with the staff, like who will take care of the nutrition. Then we'll have a mental coach to help us achieve our goals and a whole series of technicians.
Speaking to some of the guys who came from Trevigiani and rode this season, they said they were impressed by the relationship they had with you, which was extremely professional and less friendly. Do you think this is the right way to introduce them to today's cycling world?
But do you think that a junior who goes to a I have to team up be treated in a friendly manner? They are extremely professional there, They give you all the opportunities to emerge, but you have two years, if you are there it's good, otherwise you go backThere are no discounts, and I don't think this is a "friendly" system. I assumed there would be more professionalism with 21-23 year olds, but I saw something was wrong. If they aspire to become professionals, they need the right professionalism to do so. I hope that by changing teams they can succeed, but it definitely requires a different mentality.
