In telling the first victory in the Movistar jersey at Return to San Juan, Fernando Gaviria used an interesting set of words. Family, passion and trust are not obvious terms in professional sportsMost of the time, it all comes down to doing your job well, sometimes well-paid, so that the numbers add up in terms of wins, points, effort, and goals. It often depends on how you approach it, so In the same team, someone can feel like God and another can feel like hell.. It is a fact, however, that at UAE Emirates, Gaviria was dying and that at the Movistar has found the motivation again.
"The team – says the 28-year-old Colombian – it's very important. They welcomed me well, I'm happy to be hereFrom day one, I felt a great atmosphere, and this pushed me to work harder. It's something I've been missing in recent years. I don't want to make comparisons, they were different circumstancesWe're having fun now, the team is confident and happy. So let's try to continue like this throughout the season. They asked me what races I wanted to do and whyI told him my opinion, we discussed it, and the calendar came about by itself.
«I want to try the classics againThis year, he admits, will be difficult because I haven't done them in three years. I want to arrive in excellent condition. Now we are growing, I just need to lose a couple of kilos and train a little more on specific tasks., but we're in good shape. I had a good winter at home and in Spain too."
Torres last man
Movistar, which has a long-standing tradition of cycling's Giro d'Italia, not its sprints, is getting a taste for it. And so it is every day. The group of riders who flew to Argentina with Gaviria practiced and learned something new..
"It's beautiful," Gaviria smiles from behind his beard, "because they are learning very quicklyEvery day I'm racing a little better, and that makes me optimistic. On the first day, they managed to get me on the right track; we were behind. Jacobsen. The guys want to work well and do all the work to get me to the sprintThere's not much to explain to him. These are things that you find along the way and they are starting to make their own decisions.
«They don't make many mistakes. The truth is that they have a huge engine, but every now and then they waste a lot of energyLike Torres, who comes from the track and is my last man. He's strong, but he has to learn. They have to understand that sprinting is not like climbing, that you just have to push hard.Here you have to manage your legs, because sometimes it takes a really long time to get to the finish line..."
Hot debut
According to those who know him best, Starting the season from South America after years of blackouts due to the pandemic has brought back his smile, compared to debuts in Europe in the cold that is hard to digest.
«It's important – he says – to find ourselves at the end of January in a beautiful race, with the heat and such a high level in the sprints. It's a good test to get to Europe, the comparison helps to understandI've had my tough days, when I couldn't win or even get close. Meanwhile, the others were growing, but I think that in the end there is a certain balance between usThe difference depends on behaviors.
«When you start a sprint, you immediately hit the barriers, on the right or left, you almost never find yourself in the middle. Ganna the other day He did well. He left two meters between himself and the barriers and didn't move. You go to the barrier because if someone wants to pass you, they have to get all the air they can. Luckily, there are no sprinters trying to knock you down anymore, and when that happens, it's by mistake. There's a lot of respect; we're all friends now. There will never be another sprinter who can achieve stratospheric numbers.. Now you have to compete in sprints every time, what matters most is your control, your team, your bike…».
A Canyon for a Friend
Right on the bike front, It seems that Gaviria is very happy with the Canyon Aeroad receipt provided and equipped with a SRAM Red (41-54 front chainring): the same bike Philipsen and Merlier rode to a string of victories last year. The one used in recent years was certainly more suited to climbers and less to the... abuse of sprinters.
«I feel very good – he says – the new bike is comfortable, I'm happy. I chose the wheels that I will use all year roundWe have a lot of them available, but I chose the ones that seem the best looking to me (Gaviria's preference went to the Zipp 454 NSW tubeless, mounted with Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tires, ed.). I asked to be able to have them for all the stages, in all the races of the year".
