Marco Villa's Tuesday was in Rome. The track manager took part in the conference “The Female Athlete” organised by the CONIA comparison between technicians of various sports, in which also participated Elizabeth Borgia, Diego Bragato e Paul Sangalli.
"It was," says Marco Villa, "a constructive exchange to hear how other sports work. Sangalli, who has a long and important experience in this field, also acted as speaker».
The days of Noto
But let's take a leap back in time and towards the south. In mid-November, the first training camp of the national track team was held in Noto, Sicily.An initial meeting to prepare for the upcoming season and lay the foundations for a future that isn't so distant.
«It was – says Villa – a first starting retreat. For women the block was made up of elite and under-23 athletesWe are trying to work with them already with a view to Paris 2024. While the men had a massive presence of young people, to whom Lamon was added. Scartezzini he was absent because he was busy with Six Days of GhentThe WorldTour athletes, however, were still on holiday or active (as the same had anticipated to us Viviani a few days ago, ed.)».
Was it important for the women's group to work together right from the start, also in light of what was said a few months ago?
The women's group was required to participate (unlike the elite men's group, ed.). It was important to do the first block of work together. I was happy that then Fidanza, Guazzini and Consonni have decided to stay and work. This is the second year I've worked with women.
Do we need to find a method?
No, we already have the method. The national team works very well from this point of view. I want to try to get the women's group to have the same mix as the men'sFind a way to work together. It's only been a few years since they've been doing the same WorldTour activity as the men.
Have you met?
We talked to each other and based on each other's calendars and commitments we tried to find days when we could work together. It is important in order to build the system I was talking about before.
Also because the first commitment is the European Championship in January...
We'll get there in a few races. The men will split up, those who don't race at the European Championships will go to race in Brisbane at the World CupThe women, however, won't be doing that stage. This is because none of the athletes in my group will be going to the Tour Down Under. They'll race in Hong Kong and then in Milton, which will be the last stage before Paris. Also considering the fact that they won't be going to Australia. for the European Championship I will have the full women's group.
What kind of training did you do in Noto?
Only road and gym. We trained strength both on the bike and with weights and then a lot of endurance training.The weather also helped us, with an average temperature of 25 degrees for all 13 days.
There were many young men, was there a way to bring them into this world too?
In the meantime, they train and this can only do them good. And then they start to understand how we workThey have clear examples in front of them (Viviani, Consonni or Milan, ed.), who they have demonstrated how important it is to work well on the road in relation to the track. Although…
What?
Now I struggle to take young people to training camps or to World Cup trials.
We imagine he's referring to the Devo Team guys…
Yes. Teams prefer to have them with them at all times. They don't let the kids come to races or training camps, or to train on the trackThe World Cup has a test every month and takes up a week in three months. I talk a lot with the teams but I can't convince them. They think that if I take a rider to train on the track for a week I will ruin him for a whole quarter of the season.What they don't understand is that a guy with us works on the track two days out of five. For the rest, we take great care of the road and we've always had results.
