Trentin's victory to Paris-Tours è a magnificent flash of blue at the end of the seasonThe French classic, which closed the World Cup and was excluded from the WorldTour perhaps because France (ASO) had too many or because it was not possible in the aftermath of the Lombardy, saw all non-climbers at the start. The classics riders who once shared the calendar with the climbers, offering their own showLikewise, on the French route they had to endure dirt roads and sections, because a race solely on asphalt is no longer sufficient by today's standards.
Trentin's victory is worth a lot because it is the third one ten years after the first one (it is not as good as Bartali's second Tour, but given the speed of current cycling it is not far off) and because it allows us to tell a story that was too quickly archivedDiego Ulissi, also born in 1989, gave us the inspiration a few days ago when we asked him to talk about the technical commissioners he worked with and among the four he said clear words about Cassani.
Four Europeans and a world silver medal
In 2018 Trentin was the first of four European champions under Davide's management in the national teamAt the finish line in Glasgow he beat Van der Poel and Van Aert in the sprint (Cimolai, also born in 1989, came in fifth). The year before, in 2017 in Herning, Kristoff had defeated Viviani in the sprint, but in 2019 Elia took his revengeThe race was held in Alkmaar, Holland, and the Veronese arrived one second ahead of Lampaert (Trentin was seventh). Covid 2020 was therefore the year of Nizzolo, who a few days after winning the Italian championship in Stradella, beat Demare and Ackerman in Plouay in blue (Ballerini was sixth). Finally in 2001 the triumph went to Colbrelli, who in Trento managed not to be dropped by Evenepoel on the climb and beat him in the two-man sprint.
In those same years, Cassani's Italy arrived second at the world championships in Harrogate with the same Trentin, probably for having underestimated the twenty-four-year-old Pedersen. He was also about to win the Rio Olympics with Nibali, after a perfect tactic and the right attack, because of that damned fall. And if it hadn't been for Colbrelli's fall in Leuven, perhaps even the 2021 World Cup would have been within reachThat year, Sonny was flying. He had won the European Championships, and the week after the World Championships (where he finished 10th), he won Roubaix: all in the space of two weeks.
Cassani's project
Years in which we had suitable riders and routesAnd if the World Championship was too tough, the European Championship was certainly designed with an eye on the others. Hence the link, or rather the connection, between Trentin's victory and Cassani's national team. All those European champions were born in 1989 (except Colbrelli who was born in 1990) and all, with the exception of Trentin, have announced their retirement.
The first was Nicelo, already in the heart of summer. Then it was Viviani's turn, who despite having shown at the Vuelta that he is still a top rider, will stop after the Track World Championships. While Colbrelli he had to surrender to his heart and stopped a few months after those victories.
Cassani's blue project, inherited by Ballerini and Bettini and developed until obtaining the current management, was interrupted at the end of the four-year period in Tokyo. The new federal management saw in him a loyal supporter of the previous president and therefore the Romagnola was not confirmedThe current management's heated remarks about his (alleged) poor abilities are of little value: when you lead the national team, results countIt is undeniable, however, that Davide, probably putting too much on the table, had worked closely with President Di Rocco, giving Villa a strong hand in relaunching the track, saving the youth activity during the lockdown months, reviving the Giro U23 which had been abandoned for some time, proving decisive in the organization of the Imola World Championships, which were a jewel in the crown for all of Italian cycling and not just for one part.
Technicians should stay away from politics
The lesson to be learned from this is twofold. The first, almost banal: if you don't have riders suited to the routes, there's no point in expecting results (If anything, you'd expect character, but that's another story.) The second, equally banal but not always obvious: Technicians are always right to stay away from politics, thinking only of the sporting aspect and not the propaganda one. Otherwise, what happened to one today will easily happen to another tomorrow. And politics is wrong, if it does so, to seek them out to gain consensus.For example, there were fears for Ballerini, who was replaced by Giancarlo Ceruti, a bitter rival of Di Rocco. But Di Rocco was careful not to replace him, perhaps because the national team manager transcends partisan interests, or at least that's how it's always been.
The last few years have confirmed this a change of courseAfter Cassani's failure to reappoint him, in addition to his lack of results, Bennati was criticized for not always adhering to federal demands. This is all legitimate, mind you; no one imposes lifetime contracts, and everyone—even the manager—is responsible for their own decisions. It simply hadn't been seen before, except in the case of Antonio Fusi, appointed by a similar choice in 1998 to take over as coach of the pros in place of Martini (burning it), after the victorious years among the U23s and removed at the end of 2001 to make room for Ballerini.
Marco Villa, to whom we wholeheartedly wish good work, is one of the few who in these years has remained in his place, thinking about the track and now about the road without saying a word too manyA technician who acts like a technician, who wants the last word in his field and prefers to work day and night in the velodrome, rather than appear at events and rallies. Someone capable of saying several times that he would have preferred to stay on the track, but ready to accept the federal will who wanted him on the road. Someone who put the Azzurri ahead of his own ambitions. Perhaps thanks to this, he would survive a brutal management change like the one in 2021. But would Alfredo Martini have been a Azzurri player from 1975 to 1997 if sports politics had already taken the same tone as today?
