Marco Velo is over the moon, even though he almost missed out on the time trial of his dreams, having been held up by an accident while returning to the start after following Vittoria Guazzini. Edoardo Affini and Mattia Cattaneo They made history, taking first and third place in the race that was worth the European title of specialties. And perhaps on the very day when it was thought that the blue would go unnoticed, especially given Ganna's absence, the two chosen by city of Brescia they have put together a true masterpiece.
“We surprised you!” Velo jokes. “It was clear that they were going strong – he explains – they proved it at the Vuelta. And the harmony we created with the national team was very beautiful, it was fundamental to these results. The video call we had right after with Pippo (Ganna, ed.) was also beautiful when we were there getting changed.We all said goodbye, he was very happy too and this shows the team spirit."
The perfect day
Affini arrives from anti-doping with a smile that hasn't been seen in a long time. As a boy, he had graced these podiums with remarkable regularity, then professionalism has proven to be less generous than one might have expectedThe transition to the Visma-Lease a Bike, with Mathieu Heijboer who chose to train him, brought confidence and new consistency.
«As a junior in 2014 I won the European road championship – he rattles off – and as an under 23 in 2018 the time trial, but this one is another story, come on! We saw the route yesterday for the first time and I immediately thought it was perfect for me.A nice linear course with some slightly more technical sections, but overall it was known to be fast. Then obviously we had to take into account the wind and the water, because when I left it started to rainIt was about going fast from start to finish and pushing harder in the unfavorable wind zones, where you could make the difference. Instead I did the last three kilometers with my eyes closed, I didn't understand anything anymoreI don't know how much I was going for because I haven't opened anything yet, but I can say that it was the best time trial I've ever done in my life. And maybe this is exactly what was needed to win a European Championship."
And the perfect time trial
«It's beautiful because it's unexpected – he reflects – I've always been around it, so I think I can say I didn't come from nowhereBut I was always second, third, fourth, fifth. But this time it worked and now I'm enjoying it. I don't know what was different. The Vuelta was the most demanding race I've ever done. I had 48 hours in which the only things I did were sleep and eat to recover as much as possible, even mentally.This morning I didn't have any particular feelings, but my coach told me to believe in it, because things would get better, and he was right. After all, he's the head coach, he knows what he's talking about (smiles, ed.)".
The 68 crown
It was clear from their looks and their technical choices that they had set out to do well. Affini was careful not to follow the path of the double lenticular, who had experienced a few too many oscillations at the Vuelta. However he mounted a 68-tooth plateau, against Cattaneo's 60.
"I had already tried the two lenticulars in Burgos," Edoardo said before racing. "It was windy, but I managed to ride. When I tried the Madrid course, I knew I was really at the limit, and I made the decision to give it a try. It's all do or die, in short! Looking back now, it was the wrong decision. I had a lot of fluctuations and in those moments I was happy to be on the edge of 80 kilos. In the rest of the Vuelta no, but in that precise moment I was happy. On the other hand, the 68 is almost fixed in the time trialsI put it on the last time at the Tour of Belgium and I never took it off again."
Cattaneo's masterpiece
Cattaneo instead chose to run with a 60, which he defines as not that long and saying it makes our legs hurt. The route between Zolder and Hasselt was not ideal for a climber like him..
"Exactly," he smiles, "it wasn't right for me at all. Or rather, it was more right for others. In the end, I'm 67 kilos, so on a completely flat and fast course it wasn't a given that I would be competitive.But I came out of the Vuelta well, and this was proof of that. Racing three days later can go very well or very badly, there's no getting around it. A one-off time trial is always special, and so I say the work done paid off. You had to have a lot of energy and I proved that it was so.. I'm not one for extreme relationships either, also due to my characteristics. If I had used Edoardo's 68, maybe I would have gone slower, because I don't have the power of riders like him, Ganna or Kung.
«I think I'm the odd one out, in the sense that, letting it go evenepoel which is part of another planet, all time trialists weigh 77-78 kilos and aboveI'm 10 kilos lighter, so I have to compete on other aspects and other routes. But finishing 19 seconds behind Edoardo and 10 seconds behind Kung in a 31-kilometer time trial like this, beating people like Bissegger and Bjerg, for me it means I've done a super time trialSo tonight we'll toast, but not much. Tomorrow we'll have the team relay, then Sunday we run for Milan and maybe in the evening we'll have a little toast. Then we hope to be called up for the World Cup and if anything we'll toast after the Lombardy».
Tomorrow we run again
The excitement is sky-high. Vittoria Guazzini's fifth place in the afternoon should already be read in a positive light, but faced with a result like this it is clear that the spirits are sky high.
"Honestly, I wasn't expecting this much," Velo concludes. "They surprised me. We arrived just six minutes before Mattia left, and they gave us this satisfaction. It's true that the most beautiful things come from an unexpected event.I'm really happy for them and tomorrow, given this result, we start with very high morale. A little while ago Masters he wrote compliments to the boys on the chat and I replied to him that tomorrow it will be his business to stay in the wake of these two in the team relay. So we'll enjoy the evening with the brakes on, because tomorrow we'll race again."
