PAVIA – Piazza della Vittoria murmurs with approval and at times explodes at the passage of this or that favourite. Eve of the Sanremo, the teams started parading on the stage from 16,30pm With a series of traffic delays reaching the city. Perhaps having not studied the maps carefully, some teams ended up just outside Varese, requiring them to endure a long journey to get there and back. La Movistar he is staying in San Vittore Olona, 72 kilometers from here. So when Cimolai arrives for the chat we had arranged, we are overcome by a slight sense of guilt for the companions who are waiting only for him.
The team that was needed
Sanremo may not be within his reach, but the third place in the last stage of the Tirreno and the other placings while waiting for Gaviria to return from Colombia say that the Friulian rider is in good shape and going strong. And if he had retired as he had already decided at the end of last season, he would do something foolish.
«At an environmental level – he says – this team is what I needed to be reborn and spend my last years as I wanted, even considering ending my career with them. Everyone told me I would have made a hasty decision to quit, but the problem is that on a mental level what I suffered in the last few months was too much. Enough for me to make this decision. What was disappointing, especially for the people close to me, was the fact that I was still physically competitive, and I think that's really how it is."
There are (almost) everyone
When at the end of the square Van der Poel arrives, the roar really goes up a notchThe world champion stopped to one side to talk to Philipsen, while a few meters away there is Jonathan Milan who has already paraded on stage and chats with Mohoric and former teammates Bahrain Victorious.
«They are all really here – says Moreno Moser – Only Roglic, Vingegaard and Van Aert are missing and if it were up to me, I would force them to run them all. They'd do their part, and it would be better for the people. We should devise a points system. Maybe it's not a problem for us who know them, but the people deserve to have them all."
Time to give him reason and We return to Cimolai, who still has the enthusiastic smile on his face from December at the first Movistar meeting when he unexpectedly felt he had arrived at his home.
You were supposed to work for Gaviria, meanwhile you finished third in the most coveted sprint of the Tirreno, behind Milan and Kristoff, but ahead of Philipsen…
Of course I came to Movistar for Gaviria, but They always told me that in his absence I could have played my chancesIt was like this from the beginning, even if honestly the Tirreno had started badly. After the first two or three stages I wanted to go home, because after the UAE Tour I got sick and in those first few days I was really struggling. Instead the team reassured me, told me to see how it went day by day and in the end it went well..
The typical Movistar style…
Yes, they didn't criticize me for not going. However They wanted me to be present in the sprints in the first WorldTour race and I did my best.
When is Gaviria coming back?
Fernando he went home after the UAE Baby Birth Tour, but I'll see him again on Wednesday in De Panne. He's resolved all his problems. He had a lot of consequences in recovering from his broken collarbone. He had an infection, the antibiotics knocked down his immune defenses. and so every three times two he was sick.
When Fernando isn't there, how is it psychologically to be able to do your sprints?
Half is responsibility and half is pleasure. I have my experience and I know that when I have to do them, I have to handle the pressure.. When I have to pull them, I know I may not be at my best, but I can still get the job done.
What can this Cimolai do at Sanremo?
Avoid dreaming and be honest. As things are going, there are 5-6 riders a step aboveIf all goes well, I'd like to be in the little group behind them. Those 20 riders who are competing for the placingBetween them I think I could get there.
