Leaving for a trip to Northern Europe, in this great talk of young people and the ideal environment to help them grow, Mirko Rossato accepts the comparison and goes into the merits of the management of his boys. The coach of the youth group at Bardiani-CSF-Faizané in fact he does not see any big differences between the philosophy that inspires his team and that of the Jumbo Visma Development which he told us about this morning Robbert De Groot.
«Let's go running on the walls and on the cobblestones – Rossato smiles – to to gain experience with an aggressive spiritI told Bruno (Reverberi, ed.) that we would have two options. The Giro del Friuli, where maybe we could take home some results. And then il Flanders Tomorrow Tour, where we will certainly take a good beatingHe told me to choose freely, and I opted for Belgium. Walls, cobblestones, and a time trial, like the old De Panne. Beatings make you grow, but we've also given someWe won four races and achieved our placings…».
Here, let's talk about helping them grow. How's the Bardiani experience going?
The project is good, I'm doing what I have to do and I thank the Reverberi for giving me carte blancheThe goal is to get these kids to the level and racing style needed to be professionals. They already are, but at the same time, they have a long way to go. The business is tailor-made for them, as they do at Jumbo Visma. I don't think so. Pinarello, Pellizzari e Bonilla they would have had similar experiences with the other continentals.
Do beatings make you grow?
The first rule is that the races end, even a quarter of an hour after the first oneThey have to get physically and mentally accustomed to longer race distances and times. If as a junior you ran a maximum of 120 kilometers, at Capodarco you'll do 180 and woe betide you if you stop. And then I want them to always run in frontTo manage young people, you use carrot and stick, but for these two rules there is only the stick.
How important is the result from this perspective?
Even if you don't win, I look at the approach, the way of running, the stimuli they haveI've been in this environment for 25 years and I've seen so many riders, now I understand how it works. Our goal is to provide the team with ready ridersFrom this perspective, it doesn't matter whether they win, but whether they know how to move and run well.
In the European continental teams they do stage races and training periods.
I studied how they move, you should always learn from others, when it is usefulBy the end of the year, our guys will have done 42-45 days of running. It's not a lot, but not a few either, given the level. Certainly, it is no longer necessary to do 70-80 days, from Tuesday to Sunday, as happened to me when I had the amateur team. It is more useful to do 10 days of rest and preparation between one race and another., that wears them out senselessly. We always clash with the best U23 teams in Europe and this makes us see how we are doing and what we need to improve…
And what do we need?
In our country, the sprinter only runs flat races and wins them, the climber only runs uphill. Today a sprint race has at least 2.000 meters of elevation gain. And if you don't work to help them improve, they won't even make the sprints. A rider like me wouldn't see the finish line today. According to certain logics I shouldn't even bring Pinarello and Pellizzari to Belgium, because they will only find tears and cobblestones, but they must be able to do everything. Because as professionals they will have to deal with itOtherwise, why do they come out abroad and not here?
What do you see in the juniors who come to you?
More than anything else what I see in the juniors outside of here. In all of Europe, they do 3-4 stage races a year, here they do the Lunigiana at the end of the seasonWe have a thousand regulations. Then it's true that logistically Italy is far from Northern Europe, but also Juniors abroad always face different opponents, we always have the same ones. And when you grow up? It's not enough.
This also happens among the under 23s…
When I talk to Amadori, he always tells me to take them out for a run. Otherwise in important international races, we find ourselves in difficulty.
You signed three excellent juniors like Scalco, Paletti, and Conforti: how did you overcome the competition from the squads?
In my opinion They are the strongest in the category and have the features we need for the demanding races we participate in. I spoke about it with Reverberi, then He was the one who spoke to their attorneys. We proposed our project and I think that next year I will have a nice team of 8-9 riders, in which the greatest like Martinelli will be able to try to climb another step, like this year Marcellusi and Tolio.
Not too different from what they do in Holland, in short…
We do as they do and that is our goal. We are the only professional team in Europe to have an U23 group in our ranks., who certainly earn a minimum salary, but much higher than what they would earn in the continentals. At the beginning there was skepticism, so the goal is to make ourselves seen so that people understand that the project is seriousThis is the first year, I'm convinced that in the next two years we will see the results. When they move up to the juniors, they need a couple of seasons to gain experience.
