GLASGOW – Just this time that Chris Hoy Arena was looking forward to the most beautiful gold, the one of the male chase with Bigham who promised to shoot Ganna, National Goofy has found the perfect way to spoil his party.
Did he start slow or did the other one start faster? Villa had warned him, so it's reasonable that he wasn't too worried about it.But when the timing curve was expected to reverse, the British rider continued to fly. At the third kilometer mark, Bigham He was travelling in 3'02”336, while Ganna was in 3'04”504: 2”168 difference in favor of the engineer.
Two seconds in three laps
The Glasgow track is 250 meters long. However, Ganna recovered more than 2 seconds in three laps and overtook Bigham by 0,054 It's something those who were there still struggle to explain. Especially since the bulk of the crew left on the final lap: the Tissot analysis table illustrates everything in great detail. Up to 125 meters from the shot, Bigham and his Pinarello they were still in the lead.
«Pippo showed up at the track this morning – says Villa with a big smile – and he said he wanted to put another ratio: 62x14. Previously it was 66×15, last year the record was set with 67×15. He asked to change and was so sure that we followed him.I explained to him that Bigham would gain on him for the first 9 laps, while in the last 7 he would start to lose. Instead he got to a 1.900 lead and then increased his lead further with 5 laps to go.
«After 11 laps Bigham was still improving and at that point, I didn't know what to think anymore either. I thought it would be difficult to recover, but Pippo made the difference in the last two laps. I was expecting that instead of winning by a hair's breadth, we would lose by a hair's breadth, but instead he surprised us again. It's probably good for the show, but not so much for me. (he says laughing and miming a heart attack, ed.) They say the blanket is always the same, but this time he really played with the limit.
Nothing easy
Ganna and Bigham they hugged each other in front of the camera, in this sort of relay that often unites them. Then the Piedmontese made a passage in the Rai station, he climbed onto the podium with Milan coming third and in the end… he disappeared. We were waiting for him with the rest of the journalists in the mixed zone, but he didn't come. Meeting him was a stroke of luck or a pirate's gesture, entering where you cannot without the magic green bracelet.
"Tell me how it went? You should do it," he replied. I was just thinking about doing my job and that's itI didn't see the comeback I made, I didn't even know I was ahead, I was just thinking about doing my part and following Marco to the letter. Winning is always an exciting thing, there is always pressure because People think you just go out there and win easily, but maybe they should try it too… Pursuit is a discipline that you have to prepare, I didn't prepare it, so I'm already happy that I managed to win. I wasn't looking at the boards, I was trying to hear Marco, but I was looking as low as possible."
The heart of champions
The applause of the Glasgow crowd paid tribute the deserved triumph for the Italian athlete and his challenger with the friendly smile, in this track which is truly a fiery arena. Then the program went on, with Viviani entered the action and immediately preceded the fourth place of Rachele Barbieri in the elimination.
It's hard to understand how let the emotions manifest themselves in these great athletesAfter a victory, you'd expect the desire to tell or share with those around you, as Bettiol did, who, all things considered, had a promising breakaway to celebrate that afternoon, which ultimately went awry. Evidently, that's not the case for everyone.
«Now the time trial awaits me – he concludes – after many weeks in retreat far from everything and everyone, that's the main goal I have in mindI've won it twice, I'd like to win it three times. The tricolor jersey is not enough for me, but I'll be up against some great champions. I'll do my best to be up to par."
