Can you be excluded because you're too fast? Probably not. But if you're not selected to go to the Olympics anyway, he just proved that he has a better time in his legs than the best ones (in training) were able to do… so the taste is less bitter. A record time. That's what happened to Michele Scartezzini (in the photo Cantalupi in the opening), a life for the track, which will not go to Tokyo and equally in these days he is at high altitude with Ganna to keep company and stay close to his friendBecause if you're part of a group, failing to join won't get you out.
But it's not easy…
Not even a little bit, but if nothing else I have no regretsI'm a reserve in my home country. Plus, people are starting to feel like I wouldn't have run and that, Given the tightening of anti-Covid measures, I couldn't even have gone to the Village and been with the kids... At this point, I'm staying home. I'll do Sardinia, rest a bit, and then I'll leave again for the European Championships and the World Cup.
Can you tell us about this phenomenal test?
We formed a quartet with Lamon, Ganna, Bertazzo, and myself. And in the end, we did a time much better than the 3'46”513 which is considered the starting point for the Italian team for these Olympics, achieved last year at the World Championships in Berlin by Lamon, Consonni, Milan, and Ganna. A record? A good time. And this has put Villa in crisis, evidently..
What was the weather like?
We didn't tell anyone, I keep it in my pocketI'll tell you after the Olympics.
Did the Berlin quartet rehearse?
Yes, of course, but with one less tooth that we all noticed. We did it with the 61x14 and felt like we were going too nimble.We did 3'52" with one quartet and 3'53" with the other. It wasn't a reliable test. The real test, the tempone one, we did it with the 62×14 and maybe the 63×14 would have been fine too, because at certain times we were still agile. To do well, you certainly need 62, as long as Tokyo's humidity conditions don't affect performance.
What are you doing these days up in the mountains with Ganna?
We train and make fun of each other. We are above Macugnaga, at 2.900 meters, in a refuge that requires two cable cars to reachAt that altitude, even seven days gives you a nice advantage. Pippo had asked me to go earlier, but then, with the lack of a call, everything fell through. Instead, after a few days alone, albeit with Cioni and Baffi for massages, he asked me to join himYou train low down and doing it alone with the machine behind you is hard.
We've read some taunts on social media...
Yesterday we got two hours of rain and I told Pippo that if I had been at home I would have saved myself from it. But I was happy that he asked me to join him..
Your bosses of the Blue Flames How did they take the exclusion?
They were also disappointed. But It's better to be out with excellent performances than to have dropped out in practice.I've done my part and I'm no less than the others. That makes a big difference.
We read your words on Facebook and Villa's regret.
He couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that I've been strong since the beginning of the year. We'd said that to go, I'd need to be ready for the test moments, and I did. I gave my all, I'm calmAnd then Paris 2024 is closer than you think…
