«If you can – says Ciccone – bring it back to the same measurements as the Giro d'Italia. In the end, they're the best, I was happy with them. And the saddles too... If we can get through the whole season with the black one, I'm happy.».
Mauro Adobati take note. The first withdrawal is used to put the materials in order and the work of the mechanics of the Trek-Segafredo It continues tirelessly from the morning and will continue like this until Sunday, when they return home. Between polished bikes and others with a ban on taking photos because they will probably debut during the season, the hotel parking lot is like a town square bustling with activityThe streets of Altea, in the Valencian Community, welcomed the riders with the usual warmth of sun and people. And as it was before Covid, even if Covid is still here, you can spend a few hours with them to understand, get to know each other better, tell.
New training shirt
Ciccone wears his new training gear. No longer the fluorescent yellow of previous years, but a salmon pink, equally fluorescent, which we will have to make eyes for and which we had glimpsed while passing through Santini laboratory when it came to announce the yellow jersey of the TourThe Abruzzese's 2021 had its lights and shadows, but if you want to fully understand the season of a rider, we must not limit ourselves to the placements alone, which will also remain in the registers. Yet this simple note puts him in a good mood.
«It's one thing if in the end-of-year budget – he confirms – you have to put some poor results and sub-par performances. Another if the results are below, but the performances while you were… standing were the best. I've fallen too many times and always at important moments. So now it goes unnoticed that at the end of the second week of the Giro I was close to the top five and that for a long time the only one who fought with the best was me. And yet in the comments They keep saying I'm not the same person as I was in 2019. And after a while of reading them, it gets heavy.... ".
Two years with the Shark
Nibali is no more and the feeling, more on the skin than supported by facts, is that for him it is like to have lost some conditioning. Be it positive or negativeBut we are here to understand, and so, starting from Vincenzo, we go back while trying to look forward.
How did it go with the Shark?
Now that I can look at it from the outside, it's been a difficult two years. For various reasons, the couple did not work out.He had the two most difficult years of his career, I had some bad luck and too much tension. The synthesis was there at the Italian championship.
What happened?
It came out the classic nervousness of racing, which when you have two leaders can become unpleasant to seeVincenzo had to prove he was up to the Olympic call-up, I was going through a very good moment of form after the Giro and in the end we chased each otherThe relationship between us is good. It gave me the peace of mind to face and experience racing.He's a cold one in this regard. But technically I can't say I've learned anything, because there was just no way to work together.
How's the Ciccone shipyard going? Is it continuing to grow?
We still are under construction, although we missed something a bitIn terms of physical and mental growth, I see a big change, but the results aren't there yet.
Why do they say you're doing less than in 2019?
We're talking about the Giro. I started as the leader and in my opinion it was an important Giro. In 2019 I was racing to the finish, I won a stage and took the GPM jersey, but in the other stages I took twenty minutes and nobody said anythingI don't want to be like that, I want to hold on and This year I never got those gaps and I was still there playing for the stages.
What details do you pay attention to during the construction phase?
A lot has changed in recent years, everyone takes care of the detailsWhat makes the most difference is the tension with which the races are experienced, without ever a moment of tranquility. The pace is always high for these youngsters who don't miss a single shotOnce upon a time, at 27, I would have been considered to be at the threshold of my prime, but now it's different. One area I've realized I need to improve on is the time trial, for which we have already done specific work before the Vuelta, even if there won't be any at the Giro…
Will you do the Giro?
The Giro and the Tour, as in 2019First a nice program with Valenciana, Tirreno, Catalunya, finally the Freccia and the Liege, which I couldn't wait to do againI only ran it in 2019, one of the toughest editions, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Why those comments about the saddle with Adobati?
I'm a detail freak and when I find a padding that fits me, I never give it upWe're making custom saddles with Trek engineers. I've also made some choices regarding the handlebars. We tried the integrated one to save some weight, but in the end... I chose to go back to a traditional oneAttack and curve.
You mentioned criticism: you often say you don't care, but in the end you're always there reading...
Just a sunny guy, I like to keep in touch with the fans. I hear the criticism and sometimes it hurts.We talked about the comparison with 2019, while those during the Vuelta where I arrived one minute behind Roglic… I was disappointed too, but Roglic is the number one in the world and many of us have taken those gaps..
Cataldo will be by your side.
It's great news for the team, the right man to create a project. He has great experience in racing and I recognize him for the fact that have power over me, because I have known and respected him since I was a childI grew up with my father's advice on cycling. What he tells me is for my own good. like Brambilla.
What do you ask of 2022?
A little luck. In the last two years, between falls and Covid, everything has gone wrongAfter the crash in the Vuelta I had problems with my knee and I was without a bike for 50 days: an eternityBut it will be fine to start calmly, having to do the Giro and the Tour. Here, I would like not to fall and the same performance as in 2021, then we'll talk about it againAnd then living in Monaco for the last two years wasn't the best. Now I've moved to San Marino, closer to home and with spaces that suit me better. I hope I have the peace of mind I need. Because It's true that 2019 can be a good benchmark, but it's also true that the pandemic began in 2020 and nothing has been the same since.. Me neither.
