The interview with Gianni Faresin It was born from an email that arrived at our email address. A simple communication regarding the season that is about to begin. Some statements from Luciano Rui, by Faresin himself and the list of boys who will wear the jersey of the Zalf Euromobil Desirée Fior. The thing that immediately stands out is the absence of elite, Zalf has always been a great fond of the categoryThe squad now includes four boys from the junior category, many under and only one elite: Edward Faresin.
Obligatory choice
Cycling is shifting—in fact, it's been doing so for years—toward young people. And even the concept of the word has changed significantly in the short term. Now talents, for better or for worse, are sought from the juniors (even if we have already discussed this philosophy with Bragato).
«The team's renewal – explains Gianni Faresin – is due to the changes in the rules. Now the boys can participate in the regional competitions up to the second year of the under 23sIt's a rule I don't agree with, but it was made and it's detrimental to elite and third-year athletes. Not to mention the problems race organizers will have, They will practically find themselves competing with half the number of people compared to previous yearsThere will be problems and the risk that many of them will decide to cancel the races, also because it doesn't make much sense to keep everything going and have 50-60 kids race."
So, was changing your team a forced choice?
We want to do more a double calendar that allows us to run every Sundayand, or almost, our children. This way we can divide them better and make sure you don't penalize anyone.
They reach out to young people, or so they want us to believe, but then many juniors leave because they prefer team development…
Many kids go abroad to join WorldTour team development teams. Obviously if you go to a junior and propose him to join the team that already has a WorldTour team, he will never say no.But then it's not like all 15 or 16 of them become professionals, it's always the same old ones who arrive.
Groupama has "promoted" some of them this year eight of boys.
It's never happened. And in any case, an Italian team, if there were one, would hardly be able to do that. They took the best French players, more Germans. In Italy you can take a maximum of three of the best juniorsYou understand it's becoming difficult to compete with these teams here. First, everyone pushed for the continentals: give experience to the kids with international races and with professionals, now the push is the other way aroundIs it worth continuing now? I don't think so, because if one junior goes pro and the others go to satellite teams, we'll be done, or almost done.
To solve the problem, Colpack has decided to look for activities abroad and some teams are already doing so.
If we're invited, we'll do them, but in my opinion, the ones with professionals are the right compromise. I am of the opinion that children should be taken to certain races when they are mature.It's not easy for Italian teams, you need the resources, our sponsor gives us carte blanche, but it's not easy to organize. And it's not that there isn't a lot of good activity going on in Italy. I went to Slovenia or a little further away to do some races, it's not that the level is better, there are more stage races, that's for sure.
In Italy there are few…
We do have a few stage races, but they are actually poorly distributed, the first is the Giro d'Italia Under 23 which is in JuneThe calendar in Italy is complicated in the first half of the season and will become even more so after this new rule.
You have had Ugly mess who chose another path to make the leap to the pros in 2024.
The main reason for his departure was that the CTF is a satellite team of Bahrain and they pushed for him to go to the Friulians. He will do more activities abroad, we will see if and how he will be able to make it profitable, I don't think he needed this.I repeat: you go abroad when you feel good. Thanks to Amadori, Italy hosts international races like the Avenir and the Peace Race.
Couldn't a broader calendar provide more continuity and opportunities for growth?
The growth of the boys must be the goal, but Bruttomesso found a signatory because he won. Juniors who move up to development win. We don't have to sit here thinking about letting all the professionals with higher mileage and levels pass.Look at how many have gone back or quit. Activities for under-23s are also available here; if you want everything at once, you'll sell out sooner.
But here we win regional races that teach a boy little or nothing...
I ran too, to work best, to commit, you need to win, if you're motivated you train. What's the point of putting a kid into higher level activities for 3 or 4 years without giving him the chance to fight?Kids today are insecure and have so many distractions: they see so many things on TV and social media and want to try to emulate them. Everything has changed in just a few years.
Give us an example.
Five years ago, a strong junior would go up to the under, have his development years, and then turn pro. Now, a strong junior goes straight to the pro ranks. so the message gets across that they have to go strong as juniors and live off their incomeIf we continue like this, in another five years we'll be able to recruit students. Cycling is a long-distance sport, which you build with age and hard work. There are juniors who train more than the under-23s, and the difference is noticeable right now. It's obvious that if you endure workloads greater than the races you win, but then it endsTrust me, if things continue like this, our category is destined to disappear.
