GLASGOW – If one wanted to compose an anthology of these track world championships, after the qualification disaster, The men's quartet's silver should be told as a great feat. And it is, after all. It's just that we've gotten so used to it that we don't admit any alternatives to gold. Even though Denmark hasn't prepared anything else for months and Ours got there licking their wounds Tour of Italy who marked them all.
Superman wasn't enough
Ganna tried. And when he took the lead with three laps to go, we all hoped he could close the gap opened by the DanesBut Superman failed to achieve this feat this evening, and the verdict, accumulated lap after lap, remained engraved on the scoreboard: 3.45.161 for the Danes, 3.47.396 for ours. A defeat perhaps heavier than the reality, but one that remains consigned to the annals of the World Cup.
«Last time, in the pre-Olympic year – says Pippo – we came third, this year we came second. In Montichiari we had done a similar time after a lot of work, but this is a bit of a strange velodromeEveryone talks about special trajectories, of course you have to try it, you have to use it. In the end, having arrived up here so late, this is the level. Of course, two seconds of difference is a lot, but we will work to close it.You certainly won't win in Paris with 3'45". Meanwhile, tomorrow I'll do the individual pursuit. I was doubtful, but one more try doesn't make much differenceI don't know how the time trial will go, we'll think about it from Monday."
Lamon Pride
Lamon emerges from this World Championship with a shining armor. After criticism for a few lapses, The Venetian kept the quartet afloat with performances that hadn't been seen for a while. and they make you think that he worked really hard to get here. Just to give an example, he was the only one of the Tokyo quartet on retreat with the national team in Noto during the winter.
«It was already clear from the first round that the Danes had something more, so we tried to bring home the best possible result, knowing our margin for improvement. We've seen that we've improved a lot since qualifying. Today we tried to start much faster, so as to counter them in the first few kilometers, but then they came out strong. It's true that I feel a particular pride after these daysFirst of all, I wasn't satisfied with how I was doing in certain tests, so I tried to roll up my sleeves and now I know how you get to this conditionI did my best, I'm happy to have shown that I was helpful to my teammates, I'm happy about that."
Milan and the street
Milan was the first to pass, gigantic and calm. He is one of those who paid dearly for the Giro and maybe the approach running only in San Sebastian It wasn't the best move and he realized it. Bennati would have strongly turned him towards the road, given the route that winks at him, but the choices were different.
“We knew Denmark was a very strong team,” he says. “We never underestimated them. We went on track to give 100 percent and we gave it.We always aim for the highest step, but we don't always succeed. Maybe we started a little too strong and it stayed in our legs, but we have a year to make up for it in Paris.i. Tomorrow I'll do the chase. I'll think about recovering and tomorrow we'll see. Honestly. I'm a little tired, but I think I'll be ready, to challenge myself and the times I've already done and try to beat the opponents I'll face. If I had to start on the road tomorrow, it would have been tough. I'm pretty tired. I would leave and I think I would be able to help, but not be captain. My personal opinion, as sincere as possible."
Growing Moor
If Ganna, Milan and Consonni (who we will talk about in a separate article, due to the greatness of his choice) arrived in Glasgow passing through the Giro and Lamon working on the track, Manlio Moro did it by racing on the road with Zalf, at a necessarily lower level. This is why his tests are an open door to the future.
«From this quartet – he says – I learned that I have to try to stay more focused, more calmI have my abilities and if I can stay more focused, I can do much better. In some training sessions I go more than I did today and in my opinion it's a question of mentality, of calm. I have to learn to start calmly, to be focused when I do my pulls, when I go in a wheel. Anyway I have the means to stay in the quartet and saw that Next year I will also turn professional, hoping to be able to make the leap in quality that I am missing».
Villa's budget
Villa pulls the strings. And while he's already spoken about the women, who finished fourth with Chiara Consonni replacing Elisa Balsamo, he has something to say about these four men.
“We wanted to get there,” he smiles, “but we mustn’t get discouraged. We lost against Denmark, a sign that our two schools will get to play in the OlympicsWe know what we might be missing, we arrived with emergenciesSimone Consonni is not doing very well and we have found a young player like Manlio Moro who confirmed his performance at the European Championships. He was a bit too exuberant and that's what led us to overtake him too fast on the third lap. and, having now reached that pace, we tried to carry it to the finish. We paid for it and he paid for it above all.These are mistakes of inexperience, but I don't blame him at all, because starting second is not for everyone.
«I think that to win in Paris you have to go lower than 3'45”. We got here with 3'46" doing two training sessions. Two who arrived from Wallonia, one from San Sebastian, we almost never met. We've been assembling the quartet in the last few days, so there's nothing to complain about.We'll have to work harder and better. We know that next year, the road will be more challenging until the Giro d'Italia, but then we'll have them on the track. And we know we can do better…».
