Scoring points for a WorldTour team is one, if not the most important aspect for the seasonal balance. In fact, it results in the permanence in the category and attractiveness to sponsors and athletes. For Cofidis the relegation zone that was talked about at the beginning of the year is now forgotten. They all did their part, the climbers and especially the sprinters.The season, now in its final stages, has turned out to be one step forward from several points of view.
For many teams, sprinters represent the lifeblood of accumulating victories, placings, and therefore precious points. We asked ourselves questions and diverted them to Roberto Damiani sports director of the French team, asking him how to manage so many fast wheels and what lies behind the need to finalize each arrival order for the accumulation of points.
Roberto, let's take a look at your sprinters...
I would start with Max Walscheid He won a race, then had a training accident, and has been struggling a bit since April. I think Max is the ideal last man standing for another sprinter. He doesn't have natural explosiveness given his size, but he has significant progressionThere is a big difference between the explosive sprinter and the sprinter like Max who is more like Petacchi or Cipollini. These athletes are in fact capable of reaching peak speeds in progression. So they become fast, but for this type of characteristics.
Let's continue…
Piet Allegaert who has achieved very good results, but probably lacks the final explosiveness that could allow him to win. He too could be included among the help men for the final pit out.
Then there's Coquard, your best sprinter this year...
Bryan he reopened the discussion with the victoryHe did it well at the start of the season and even won at the end. He's a sprinter who instead becomes one of those men who run the last 100/150 meters. He did his job well, we tried to support him as he supported Simone Consonni in the last Paris-Tours, doing a really excellent job.
Here we are in Consonni, what kind of season did he have?
I'd say it's quite complicated, because he's had some health problems. Simone has perhaps paid for the transformation from Elia Viviani's last man to the protagonist in search of results. But he's working well, he's growing, and he's also achieved a good number of results.
Then there's Davide Cimolai, another very fast Italian...
Cimolai he's definitely a good sprinter this year he devoted himself more to helping othersThese riders were important for a number of points that gave us the chance to reach our current team position.
So is scoring points the goal?
The first objective remains to win. It seems obvious, but if you win you also get points.
We've often seen multiple members of the same team sprinting, including yours. How do you explain this approach?
We have sometimes found ourselves having to consider results that posed two or three riders in the top ten within a race, as other teams have done. Happy with the number of points they scored, but a little less for the lost race.
Is it a tactical aspect that becomes a planned requirement before the match or is it a final eventuality?
It's also a need, I struggle to Don't think of yourself as starting a race not to win. Actually, I just can't. For me, every race is about achieving the best possible result.
Doesn't this sometimes affect the finishing order negatively?
These are situations where, in hindsight, you can even say you could have played them better. But the importance of being in the WorldTour is still fundamental.
Using a football comparison, sprinters are like strikers. The more they score, the more consistent they become. The same goes for your sprinters. Do you see Consonni becoming more prominent in the finishing ranks?
Throwing it in is very important. That victory there It was like opening a very important door. Also because it was a tough finish. There were some really good sprinters. I'm very sorry for what happened to the Bernocchi Cup. At a key moment of the race, when Simone was in great form, he had a mechanical problem and was left out of the gameAt Paris-Tours there was that hesitation in which Severed he put the handlebars in front of him and he was no longer able to sprint. These are situations that prevented him from achieving even better results than he achieved.
Is he on a growth path?
I would say more of a transformation period and it takes time and calm.
Looking ahead to 2023, are you planning on strengthening the sprinters' roster?
We are a more dedicated background to our manager who deals with the marketObviously he consults with us for technical choices, but now we already have a good number of sprinters who will be able to boast another year of working together. Some race dynamics for next year will happen more easily in the final stages of the raceI think it's one of the sectors we can rely on most.
How do you assess the department this season?
It was definitely a positive season, both for the department and for the team. For the number of victories achieved and for the fact that probably a large percentage of those who consider themselves great cycling experts gave us up for lost in the WorldTour. Instead, in the annual ranking we are in 11th position and in the three-yearly ranking we are in 14th position. We went straight towards our goals, with great humility but also with great determination.And I must say that this is one of the things that makes us most happy.
