Felline seeks continuity and the opportunity to break free

2022 is almost upon us and Fabio Felline can't wait to find out what the new year has in store.. After having taken us to discover the stage of the Giro on its hills and at the beginning of the preparation in Calpe, the thirty-one year old of theAstana Qazaqstan Team he told us his ambitions for the new season and looked back at the past one.

What were the last things you did before leaving for the presentation in Kazakhstan?

I went to take a test, to try on shoes and check the fitI have had a close relationship with Mariano for more than 15 years now (the biomechanist Alessandro Mariano, ed.), for which When I have to make any changes, I always ask him for approval first. 

How was your autumn?

I did four weeks off and then I started again towards the end of NovemberWe didn't really go on holiday with our little Edoardo, but... we allowed ourselves a few tripsBut now I've left again and here in retreat I'll begin to understand what the concrete plans will be.

What do you think of Nibali's return to Astana? 

I had never run with Vincenzo, but It's definitely a great motivation to have him in the team.I can't say he's my best friend, because we've never worked together in all these years, so everything remains to be seen and discovered. In the list of the great cycling champions of the new millennium, After Alberto Contador and Fabian Cancellara, I will have the opportunity to work with another great of this era.

Looking back on this year: are you satisfied with 2021 and what do you want from 2022?

I would like to return to winning as happened in 2020Over the last two years I feel like I've always been strong, obviously that's never enough, but objectively I'm satisfied. 

Was the Tirreno-Adriatico stage you finished in fourth place behind the phenomena Van der Poel, Pogacar and Van Aert one of your finest moments?

Certainly, but what I was sorry about was that as it was going, especially in that period, I didn't collect as much as I could haveI apologize, because there were times when I could have won but, for one reason or another, I never achieved anything. I hope to have the same legs, if not even better, and to be able to achieve more consistently..

Where and how will it depend on the team?

I still don't have a clear idea because we still have to finalize everything. It's inevitable that my position has changed compared to the past, I'm no longer the 25-year-old Fabio Felline at Trek, who was a joker or a free hitter, choosing to run by feeling. There's a time for everything, next year I'll be 32: I know I'm a team player and more of a guarantee as a good worker than as a winner. It's obvious that, as I said, I would like to return to victory, but Cycling is a job and you can't always do what you want.At this year's Giro, for example, I could have played for a few stages, but there was a ranking objective with Vlasov and for that my chances were obviously lessThe goal is to always go fast, because that way things come naturally.

How do you get back to winning after a few dry spells?

Basta some favorable situation and the wheel turns, as always happensI'll take Sonny (Colbrelli, ed.) as an example because we grew up together and until last year we were perhaps seen on the same level. It all started from something, it didn't happen by chance. If he hadn't gained confidence in Romandie with the stage victory, perhaps the whole virtuous circle wouldn't have been activated. with the Dauphiné, the Italian championship, the European championship and then the triumph in Roubaix. When you win, you are more at peace, you are more satisfied and you have nothing left to lose.Mental situations arise that make you take a step further. At the 2020 Giro, for example, I was stronger than ever, partly because I was energized by having won the Pantani Memorial at the end of August.

Between Sobrero and Ganna, it seems like something's moving in Piedmontese cycling, do you agree?

They are two phenomena, but the problem is that behind them there is total darkness.

For what reason do you think?

There's a cabbage mentality. The roads don't encourage cyclingThere are always more risks, so for that reason alone, unless they have a real passion, why should a parent take their child cycling? Then Sobrero himself pointed out the other thing to me. He told me that when he was a student or a junior, I was there as a professional. Seeing that I had made it, he said to himself: "I have to do it too." The problem is that there are very few models to look up to, Just think that when I joined, there was no one ahead of me, the only one was Sergio Barbero, who had stopped 10 years earlier. And even before that, in the 1990s, for inspiration, you had to remember Italo Zilioli. 

So you're not so optimistic about the future either?

No and I'm sorry because, unless someone comes along, there is no generational change and it's likely that he'll be missing from the two of them for a while. Ganna and Sobrero are two beacons, but they are not enoughNow I've lost the youth cycling tour and I don't want to say a casprint, but I have not heard of Piedmontese students or juniors becoming popular at a national level so the fear is that another 10 years will have to pass to produce other top-level professionals.

Yet, it's a region teeming with two-wheel enthusiasts. How do you explain that?

There is no nursery in Piedmont. When I was little, I saw far fewer people on bikes, but those I passed were all running., while now you see a lot of people who bought the bike, who approached cycling later and unfortunately that's not what brings about the generational change. We need a greater culture of our sport again which has been somewhat lost over the years.