GLASGOW – The caravan of the world It's fading away. Even the writer will take flight in the afternoon, and at that point these days will be spoken of in the past tense. In reality, it seems like a century has passed. Mathieu Van der Poel's victory it's already far away, even though it happened just eight days ago. Perhaps because five more World Cups have taken place in the meantime: each with its own reasoning and stories. Like the athletes, at least the Italians with whom we've had the most contact, we admit we too feel drained.
The house of Italians
Rather than address the issue of this new formula, which we will certainly return to, today at the center is Italy, understood as the home of the Azzurri.
«I'm thrilled by the work of my teammates – Bettiol said after the arrival of the World Cup – of the team, of the technicians, of the masseurs, of the mechanics. They are lucky to be Italian, they put us in the best conditionsI really gave it my all. Today for me was the culmination of a year. I believed in this World Cup, I didn't care if it wasn't right for me. I didn't care. I wanted to do well, I wanted to repay the work not only of my teammates, but of everyone, of all the people behind it, who are fantastic and make us proudBecause in my opinion we have the best staff of all the national teams and I'm happy that you had fun."
Bettiol and the differences
It was definitely about a highly emotional moment for an athlete who thrives on momentum, but also an athlete who after his first year as a professional in the last part of Liquigas (even if the team was already called Cannondale) found himself in an American team. Given his long stay, he will evidently find himself comfortable, but Living for a few days in an Italian team brought him back to 2014. Even more so in the national team, amadio he recreated the atmosphere of that same team. And in these few days, Bettiol must have noticed the difference. How many times has he been given such consideration in his team?
Here's the point. We keep talking about the need for an Italian team not to give our lungs a breath, but because it's the only way to protect the capital of Italian athletes that is spent and sometimes squandered on the international market every year.
Amadori's question
The day after Milesi's victory in the under 23 time trial, Marino Amadori has entrusted us with an interesting reflection, closed with a question.
"It's often said that there are no riders in Italy," said the U23 coach from Romagna, "when in reality we have many in this category, and some are strong. What I wonder though is where they end up once they become professionalsThey are the ones who don't have the charisma to emerge or in the teams where they pass, are they put at the back of the queue, without the opportunity to move up?».
The Italian state
While we wait to see what the outcome of the new influx of migrants to foreign Devo Teams will be, we're tying ourselves to two more strings to take the next step.
The words heard just yesterday from Francesca Polti they make you understand how Cycling, if approached with the right managerial skills, is still a very strong promotional vehicle. And so one wonders whether the flight of Italian sponsors years ago was really due to doping cases or rather the impossibility of playing with the invoices which made the investment advantageous even on other levels. If this were the case, it would be confirmed once again that the Italian tax system is a brake on certain investmentsAnd some industrialists aren't telling the truth.
Secondly, one's arms drop when one sees how in the country of Coppi and Bartali and other giants who fill sports history books by themselves, the Government does not lift a finger to offer support. France has involved the French Games and encouraged giants like banks and oil companies, similar to what Belgium did with Lotto. Some regions in Spain and Belgium support professional teams on their own, unwilling to implicate the states that have put their names on the team's jerseys.
The god of football
In our provincial and bigoted Italy, we have reached the point of put the football god at the center of everything, leaving only crumbs for the rest. And if it then comes out that Mancini leaves the national team and he might have done it for money (we are still waiting for the resigning manager to give his reasons) then those words of Bettiol and Elena Cecchini's tears for the poor showing made yesterday by the girls in the race (since 2004 we have never left the top 10: this is also a theme we will return to) they assume a depth and richness that perhaps Italian sport does not deserve. Which its politicians wouldn't even be able to grasp.
