Among the protagonists of the gravel world championship this weekend there will also be Sacha ModoloThere will be many Italians present at the challenge in Veneto, which is what differentiates the presence of the Bardiani CSF Faizané è his approach path, without specific appointments apart Argenta's tricolor closed in second place and continued to do what he does best: professional racing.
The Veneto is back from cro-race, the Croatian stage race where he was certainly not an extra but which also left him with a bad memory: «I caught a bad cold which is not the best thing to have with you just a few days before a World Cup.. Nothing that can't be faced, but it would have been better if it hadn't been there..."
Have you ridden gravel again since Argenta?
No, both because I was busy and because I had noticed some problems with the chainring and gears, so I left the bike with my trusted mechanic and picked it up as soon as I returned from Croatia.
How do you approach the World Championship event?
Like a normal race. If I had to base my assessment on the Italian championship, I expect the race to be run more like a road race, without any immediate selection. If there were no climbs, there might even be a narrow sprint option.
Do you already have an idea of what kind of race it will be?
No, I need to study the route, but when it comes to gravel, it's always a mystery. With narrow trails and single track, it would be more like off-roading, like a mountain bike marathon. With wider roads, it's more difficult for the race to immediately become a one-on-one battle like it was in Argenta.
How did you get into this adventure? Did you have any off-road experience?
I've never raced off-road. I did some track racing almost ten years ago and I remember that Villa In those very few outings, he told me I had a good eye. If I were reborn, I'd ride on the track and on the road like I do now. I have a mountain bike at home, I use it for some unfortunately rare outings with friends or for training as an alternative to the road, when I feel a bit of rejection and therefore I prefer to do something different.
Croatia said the conditions are there…
Actually I was fine, in fact I played my cards in every sprint and I'm especially sorry for the first stage, but I found a Milan really monsters, there was nothing to be done. Before for one reason or another I never went, in fact I made myself available to others as with Fiorelli at the Giro. The condition arrived with the summer, even in Plouay I had really great legs but I punctured twice and I was unable to emerge and play my cards.
What feelings did the Italian Gravel Championship give you, beyond the result?
Pure fun. There's no tactics, no great teamwork, you just go out on the dirt at full speed and compete with the others based on what you have.It's hard work, that's for sure, so I hope that Sunday won't be a tough race from the start. It's a specialty where technique counts a lot: in Argenta I found myself together with Colledani, who comes from mountain biking, the difference downhill was huge and in fact he recovered a lot.
In your opinion, is gravel a specialty closer to road or mountain biking?
With mileages of around 200 km or more for road bikers, because in the long run endurance skills become fundamental, bikers start to suffer after a couple of hours and therefore those technical differences disappear and the habit of effort that we acquire emerges. It depends a lot on the direction you intend to take the specialty.
From this point of view, what opinion have you formed?
It remains to be seen whether the current approach, which is more suited to us road racers, will be maintained, shorter distances will be chosen to bring them closer to mountain biking, or a new path will be chosen, as in the US with competitions of over 300 kilometers with a more adventurous and hiking flavor. I believe that in that case a process of specialization would be accelerated which in the long run would exclude other specialties.But there is another factor…
What?
The evolution of sport teaches us that there is a tendency to generate increasingly shorter competitions, to make them more appealing on television and for viewers. People, I see it even on the street, want races that last less time and perhaps have more riders to watch. I therefore believe that the growth of the movement will follow these guidelines.
