Among the "three litigants" the fourth one is happy. And fortunately for the UAE Team Emirates the fourth, Jan Polanc, was one of them. Today it went just like that at Laigueglia Trophy. Clear domination, in the result and in the progress of the race, by the team of Mauro Gianetti.
They are his boys, led in a group by Diego Ulissi e Davide formolo, who ran the race. Even when there was a long way to go until the finish line, it was them (and the Ineos-Grenadiers) to close. And it was them, time and again, who did the rest on the steep climb and descent of Colla Micheri.
Textbook thrust
A race prepared in detail by their sport director Fabrizio Guidi. He was there to conduct the orchestra from the flagship, to manage that nervousness in the finale with Alessandro Covi e Juan Ayuso who kept a beautiful Lorenzo Rota. Alessandro and Juan talked to each other, looked at each other, and often even played tricks with the radio to make Rota fall for it, but nothing happened.
At one point, Covi is in the lead after the attack. Rota blocks him. Covi turns and is probably pretending to talk into his radio. Ayuso lets himself be taken five meters away and sprints full speed ahead to try and pass them at the double. But no go. Rota is still there. Beer He told us: "This year I expect a lot from this boy. Last year he lost San Sebastian due to bad luck."
Rota is there, but so are the pursuers. And what pursuers: Carlos Rodriguez, first and foremost, and Polanc himself. Despite the three in front on Capo Mele, they are steady uphill and steady downhill. They pounce on the trio as the red triangle flashes at the bottom of the climb. Without stopping, Polanc continues straight ahead. He carries the speed of the descent with him. Rodriguez hesitates a tenth too long. The others open up. Race over.
Rota is there…
"I was afraid of missing out on the podium," Rota told us coolly, "as it turned out. I was honest with Covi and Ayuso. I pushed, thinking there was a tacit agreement, to get to the sprint... even though in that situation it was almost impossible for me to win. What can I say? If instead of snapping at each other we had done as I said, we would have arrived. Instead, in the last kilometer we found ourselves stopped in the middle of the road and we who were the protagonists of the race did not win."
«I want to thank my team for the great work done and our captain, Bakelands, who did a wonderful job and took the group of twenty away. For the rest, I am satisfied with my conditionI come from the highlands. I struggled a bit in the first two races in France, but I feel like things are getting better and better. And that's why I'm confident... for myself and for the team, which is going really well."
Perfect but not too much
A truly intense race, a race that at times seemed like a chess game. That constant turning, Rota's pulling. The gap that was good but not reassuring, as it later proved... But in all of this, the sporting director of the UAE Team Emirates makes a more than intelligent analysis. They don't let the result get to them, even though they're clearly very happy.
«It will be a bit funny – explains Guidi – because having come first, second and third it's not easy to say, yet we weren't perfect. We made a few “mistakes”, but the boys are young and that's okay.
Ayuso kept pushing hard because he wanted to drop him [the reference is to Rota, ed.] He thought he could do it and finish with two. In the end, they knew they were faster in the sprint, but you know how it is: you never know. It's better to avoid it, especially when you can.
"Polanc went on instinct. He was coming from behind and went straight. But that's the beauty of it. You don't race with a computer in your hand; the riders decide. I can give him some information, but then they have to have the race in their heads."
Scoring a hat trick and not being perfect. Why? Because instead of shooting hard, perhaps it would have been better to sprint: first one, then the other. And indeed, Guidi continues:"What was I telling him from the car? To attack! But I repeat: they are young. The important thing is that even seemingly perfect situations like this become opportunities for reflection. Because things don't always go so smoothly. Often, it's the details that make the difference."
"The really good thing about today is that the guys talked a lot among themselves. And on such a winding route, with the team car behind them, that's important. They need to be able to take initiative, to make decisions. What were they saying to each other? Speed up, slow down, I'll move, you move… And that's all it takes: team unity and communication."
Profitable Eve
"Yesterday," Guidi passionately recounts, "we tested the route. Knowing the roads for a race like this is important. We started from the small climb on the circuit (Colla Micheri, ed.) and then we did the long lap with the Testico and the entire slight slope at the top. Up there the guys stopped and decided on tactics. But it's one thing to decide them while standing still and another to do them while running."
«Today Ulissi, who was the most experienced, started this tactic. After the first pass on the Testico came to the team car and said to me: Fabrizio, it's the first lap and there are already 40 of us left, we're leaving like we said yesterday. And in fact, on the second pass, they forced their way to the summit. Once on the plain, we had kept two men, Suter e Olive tree, so as not to let anyone back in. At that point other teams also helped us and the race was on."
State of grace
Team unity and communication. This is also, according to Guidi, one of the reasons why the UAE He's growing so much and winning so much. Many have already been happy since the start of the season: McNulty, Covi, Gaviria, Pogacar and yesterday Trentin…
"In UAE there is a nice atmosphere. We've already played many matches and the team's spirit of winning is at the core. Mauro's (Gianetti, ed.) desire to win and Matxin's always well-thought-out programming. There is a lot of collaboration between everyone.
«Even among us sports directors. For example, today I was connected with a sports director at home who was watching TV and I was talking to him. And with this spirit we're still growing. Of course, to win you need good riders with good legs."
