«I left on Friday – smiles Malucelli – I only had to race on Saturday, so much so that I had a plane on Sunday morning. Instead they asked me if I wanted to run the ZLM TourI told them it was fine with me, but only if they didn't ask me to do the Tour of Belgium. So I did the ZLM and did well. And what did they do? They said: you're in good shape, why don't you also do the Tour of Belgium?».
A backpack for 18 days
Malucelli tells. The Baloise Belgium Tour is about to experience the penultimate stage, in the name of the strongest sprinters and Van der Poel who has started to… act crazy again. For the Romagnolo who this year runs in the Bingoal-WB, it is about thefinal act of a very long first part of the season.
«In short – he continues – I left home with a backpack and when I return on Sunday, I will have been gone for 18 daysLuckily, the Peace Cup was near home, in Romagna. Martina, my partner, packed her suitcase and gave it to the sporting director of the U23 team, who brought it up to me. It's my job: as long as it's there, it's fair to respond present. But after this race, I'll stop, recover, and show up in great shape for the second half of the season. I'm exhausted».
Philipsen won the first stage, you finished 15 minutes behind: why?
I'm a little advanced with the work, a little tired, let's say (smiles, ed.). When you are tired, even your capacity for suffering drops dramatically.I broke away by a hair's breadth. And yet at that moment I couldn't suffer, but it happens and I think it's also normal.
Why so much effort?
I raced at the beginning of the season at the Saudi Tour, then I was supposed to go to Turkey, but they cancelled it. I did the training camp, I was in Belgium for 15 days to do the first races and then I suffered from allergies for two monthsI returned home from Sicily, but unlike last year, I went slowly. So I went to higher ground, and when I got down, I started running. I left home on May 14th and have only been back for three days so far..
Always at the races?
I did Dunkirk and immediately after the Boucle de la Mayenne. I came home on Monday and left on FridayI raced on Saturday, stayed in Belgium, did the ZLM Tour and now the Tour of Belgium. I've run more so far than I did in all of 2022., even though I haven't run much in the last three years.
Why?
In 2020 there was COVID and I did about thirty racesIn 2021 I contracted Covid at the beginning of the season, then in August when we returned I broke my ribs and did about fifty days of racing. Last year there was the history of Gazprom and in the end I finished with 33 races. This year I've already done 37. Those who have done the Giro d'Italia are at 40, so they are more or less at those levels..
Then?
What's starting to get tough is that you race, then you stay in Belgium for three days alone in a hotel. Then you go to another race, take a trip, come home for three days, and leave right away. Mentally it becomes tough and it is difficult to recoverIt's not like you go away for two weeks, then stay home for two weeks. Last time I came back on Monday, I had three days, and then I left again. You don't even have time to get back into the habits. So now I've been feeling tired for two or three days. I told the team, but they wanted me to race because I'd had several top 10 finishes in the last few weeks. If you go to the races and you're not 100 percent fit, head and feet, it gets tough.
Does it feel bad to back out after the forced breaks of 2022?
That's exactly it. On one hand, you can't do it, on the other, your head tells you not to back down, because you've been through that situation and now you can't say no if they ask you to runI know what it's like to be housebound, I've been there before. But now I also need to recoverAnd I notice it because Van der Poel is going all out and with these riders it's becoming a pain.
Are you taking a breather after Belgium?
Ho two months without racing Because the team will be competing in the Tour of Austria, the Wallonia, and the Sazka Tour, which are tough for me. That's why they wanted me to race here, and then I'll be able to rest.
Would you choose to sign with Bingoal again?
There is a good climate, I put it there a bit to get used to itThey have a different culture, but Belgian cycling is different. Maybe you feel like you're in a quiet moment, they go away and leave you thereIt happened to me because I stopped to pee or because I took my raincoat to the car at the wrong time. But with experience you learn everything and now he has found a bit of a connection with his teammates., which is important.
Has there ever been a better Malucelli this year?
No, maybe the only time was at the Saudi TourUnfortunately, the more the years pass, the more the gap with the top teams becomes noticeable. Maybe at the ZLM Tour during the stages I felt really good, but I don't know why, when I get there, I'm fourthLooking at the race files, I make my own values, sometimes a little less, but sometimes more. However in other years I always won, this year I arrive there, at the foot of the podiumIt's also true that I've always raced in all the WorldTour races, and when ten of those teams put one rider in the top ten, you're out of the running.
What will you do after the holidays, will you go to high altitude or train at home?
I will definitely go to the mountains. San Marino was saved from the flood, but in my area there is no longer the climbThe rain has destroyed all the roads. We cyclists are the last ones to complain, but we no longer have any routes. The amateurs have reduced to the same level as when there was Covid and you couldn't leave your municipalityThere's only one climb and everyone goes there, it's like being in a granfondo. Everything's collapsed, roads are closed, it's a mess. So the idea is to finish here, go home for a ten-day break, then the mountains and resume in mid-August in FranceIt could be in Limousin, then I don't know if Poitou Charentes or Benelux, then a few one-day races in Belgium, and we'll see what happens in Italy. We'll finish here, there are still two more stages to go...
