Elimination of regional and multiple-team restrictions. Enhancement points. Bonuses. Contributions to the Committee when the athlete moves to another region. They will also be questions for insiders and probably, watching the race go by, you don't understand its depth, but they can change the face of the group. After last week's interview with Alessandro Spiniella (team manager of the General Store and Vice President of the CR Veneto), Massimo Rosso, President of the Piedmont Regional CommitteeHe told us how his region works under the new rules, to spark a debate that might lead to a rereading of some of them.
Also because, after having read about the turning point in Piedmont, the fact remains that The ones who pay the price of the new rules, one way or another, are always the athletes and their families..
"As a region," says Rosso, 50, from Cherasco in Cuneo, "we passed a Council resolution in a session open to all provincial councilors. We have essentially liberalised extra-regional transfers, even in categories where they are not foreseen.We're faced with these... meccas outside the region, where riders want to go running. So we said, "Great, go ahead. Have the experience you want, we no longer have any vetoes." But at the same time, we want to protect our clubs, so We have established that only the boys who run in the region will be called up to the Piedmont teamsAnyone who leaves won't be able to compete in the Italian championship or, for example, the Lunigiana championship. In reality, since these are competitions you enter through selection, it's not a given that everyone will go anyway.
Do they find things better in other regions?
In our opinion the Piedmontese teams have nothing to envyIf you want, a child can do a great activity here too; we're equipped with everything they need. This year, too, we will greatly expand the activity of the regional representativesWe will soon have a retreat with all the probable players called up, like there used to be Olympic Probables. It will be a two-day retreat, where we invited a series of professionals, from doctors to trainers.
With what goal?
We will develop the junior activity. In addition to the Classique des Alpes, we will also do a stage race in Spain and another in France.We'll go away with 5-6 kids, spending around €4.000 each, also providing a trainer. We'll then have the juniors and beginners race as often as possible in team competitions. We will try to include bikers in road activity, because we have seen that off-road has a lot of youth activity, but then as the categories grow they get lost.
Abroad with juniors and even students?
We are working with all categories. Peter Mattius We took him to the Classique des Alpes for two years in a rowThis year he will race at Jumbo Visma and he was noticed thanks to the international activity he did with us. I read the interview you did with his father and he recognized it too. Egan Bernal came out at Androni in Turin, living nearby Giovanni Ellena's house in Pertusio. He then joined Team Sky, but became a rider in Piedmont.
What do Piedmontese companies say?
They welcomed her very well, saying it was time. The only calls of disappointment came from the teams outside the region, because the rider who wants to do the Tour of Lunigiana, speaking of juniors, he understands that he will not be selected.
Do you give the green light outside the region and give up receiving the scores?
Even if you wanted to, we can't give up that moneyThe auditor or the Federation itself could ask us why those contributions did not arrive. Different if we were a company, like General Store with BusattoIf, however, the Federation were to grant me discretion, then the Committee could also choose not to charge them, and as Piedmont, we wouldn't ask for them. And then, if you think about it...
What?
It is not in our interest to send riders out of the region, Leaving them free also penalizes us. In case I have a really strong one, If I let him go, I also give up the chance to win Lunigiana.
But it is often the parents who pay that money.
This is another distortion, though. It is not an anomaly only in cycling, but in Italian grassroots sport which lives on the backs of parents and their volunteer work.If your son tells you he wants to go racing for a big team, but there's a €2.000 fee that the club doesn't want to pay, what does that parent do? It seems to me that the discussion started from the case of Stephen Small. His junior team was free to ask for money, or to refuse it. They come to me, I'm a lawyer, we write a letter and establish that that money is not to be paid.We're in private negotiations, no one will ever come to ask me about it.
What if the family can't pay?
Cycling is no longer a popular sport. Sure, you can do it on a cheap bike, and, if you are a phenomenon, you can achieve results up to the youth categoriesBut there comes a time when mechanical means are essential. Even in running, shoes are certainly not cheap. Playing sports in Italy is expensive.
The result is that in the South, where less money could be circulating, there is a risk of losing young people due to the lower financial capacity of families.
Me obviously I do not agree with the abolition of regional constraints and I do not agree with the abolition of multiple ones, this is clear. I've always said it. Also because certain regions will now be completely impoverished. If you work the right way, another Vincenzo Nibali shouldn't have to leave home at 16. You take your company to Messina and pamper him where he was born. You let him grow up in his own home; he doesn't abandon his family, friends, and school. When he becomes an U23, it will be a different story. Now, however, there are two or three regions that are buying up riders and the kids are queuing up to get caught.
Do you think there is a migration of athletes even below the junior level?
Do we want to talk about the rookies who have an agent? A 13-14 year old boy gets exasperated, putting him under monstrous stress. This guy might win 10 races. He thinks he's a phenomenon of the future, when maybe he's just developed early. Then he moves up to juniors and out of 10 wins one. When U23 arrives, if he gets there, he discovers girls and has spent so much psychologically that he gives up cyclingIf you're truly a phenomenon, you still get there. It's unlikely that Nibali (I always talk about him because he's the last great we've had) would have ended up as a factory worker. At this point I think it's better to put the card like in footballThis reform has turned things upside down.
