GLASGOW – We've never seen Bettiol this tired. And the others who pass after the finish line also seem to be… survivors of a mountain stage, with black faces and even worse legs, as the gaps suggest. The world championship was handed over to Mathieu Van der Poel, but for about thirty kilometers the Tuscan allowed us to hope that the impossible was within reach.
He's still shaking, after being thrown onto the asphalt for a few eternal minutes. And yet under the veil of fatigue there is incredibly a veil of fun. Better to try and win than wait, we ask him as soon as he arrives.
«Yes, I had fun – he replies immediately – I'm thrilled by the work of my teammates, the team, the technicians, the masseurs, the mechanicsI'm lucky to be Italian, they put us in the best conditions. I didn't have much of a chance of winning, I tried to take the opportunity by surprising the favorites. You shouldn't have been in the same group as Van Aert, Van der Poel and Pogacar, so I tried to get ahead of them. I jumped off the cliff and fell. But maybe one day we'll be able to take flight and win a race...".
It was this the glow, the dream that has not yet faded in the gazeThe feeling of having taken them by surprise, leaving even though no one was following. He turned around once, twice, three times: no one. Then he pointed his nose ahead, lowered himself onto his bike and rode off on his own.
Has Trentin's fall shaken everything up?
I honestly only discovered it now that it fell; before, I couldn't see anything. I was just looking ahead, trying to understand where I could attack, because in any case it was an anomalous World Cup.Starting with the protest, which broke all of our legs. So many falls, so much stress, so many relaunches, I'm really tired and exhausted.
We've never seen you look like this…
I really gave it my all. Today for me was the culmination of an entire year. I believed in this World Cup, I didn't care if it wasn't a World Cup 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 proudIn my opinion, we have the best staff of all the national teams and I… I'm glad you had fun.
A leap from the cliff, a beautiful metaphor…
I am very tired. I had maybe a 1-2 percent chance of doing it, but I preferred to risk winning rather than trying to get a placement.Because honestly, finishing fifth, or even tenth or eleventh, didn't interest me.
What brain did it take to continue after they caught you?
At that point, I don't know. I didn't know how much was ahead of me, I didn't know how much was behind me. I just sat there and tried not to think about where I was. I was just thinking about finishing this world cup, which was crazy in every way. A World Cup like this wasn't for me, but I'm glad you had fun. Bye guys.
He walks away swaying like a wounded soldier, a weary traveler. A warrior, a dreamer who tried. And so now, waiting for Van der Poel just before racing on the track for Ganna, We too are leaving with the feeling that in some way we have lost our way.
