The fitting for Pozzovivo? We talk about it with Nalini.

An Pozzovivo's joke Among the things to do before feeling completely at ease Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert"The materials. The fitting of the clothing with Nalini, which for me is not trivial, including the time trial skinsuit." A jersey to race in isn't enough, and God only knows how much effort it took to find one this time. It also needs to fit perfectly.. And Nalini What does he say? How do they work with the teams they follow?

The opportunity to talk about it is a video conference with Alessandra Agostini, marketing manager of the Mantua-based company – the stern look but the great propensity to smile – and Martina Manzalini who directly follows the sports groupsWhat do you do when the individual riders' equipment is full and the production lines have moved on to other things, and suddenly a last-minute athlete arrives?

"Working with the teams," Agostini explains, "starts a long time ago. We start talking. We evaluate the financial commitments, and if we reach agreement and a willingness to collaborate, a meeting to discuss materials is immediately and necessary. We have a range of models that is being renewed and is dedicated to the use of pro', to which are added items created almost from scratch for the teams. Technical needs and commercial spaces must be reconciledPositioning all the brands is not easy. It's not easy at Intermarché because there are so many of them. And not even at Team DSM, where new and difficult to work fabrics were being testedIf the team sells spaces to sponsors, guaranteeing a certain surface area, it doesn't necessarily mean staying there will be that easy. If the interlocutors are flexible and understand that product quality comes before commercial considerations, that's one thing. Otherwise, you'll have to sweat...

Do you identify a collection and start customizing it?

First, you prepare a set of sizes, then you meet with the team to take the measurements. Martina with the DSM Team, Star with Intermarché. A couple of days of work to achieve customization rider by riderEach team makes its own choices. There are those that give one product to professionals and one to other categories. And others, like DSM, to make everyone feel on the same level, has planned the same collection for WorldTour, women and continental.

Not all riders are the same…

It's complicated, but we have the necessary experience. There's the one who needs the S jersey and the M shorts. Every rider needs their own custom-made garments. We've developed software that processes measurements, which is a great advantage.The problem, if anything, is that at the time of year when the fitting takes place, they are not as fit as when the races begin. Not everyone knows how to evaluate and accept a tighter shirt in DecemberSome are good, others we call “capricious”.

Who are the capricious riders?

Those that if one item is good for the other 25, they still ask for the exceptionAt Intermarché there was an Italian who asked for a modification to the shaft. He wanted less fabric behind the knee and more thickness in frontThe model designer tried in every way to make him understand that to achieve it, he would have to foresee a seam behind the knee that would cause discomfort. But he insisted and in the end we did it anyway..

Pozzovivo talks about time trial suits: do you also work in the wind tunnel?

At the moment, given the Covid restrictions, we produced the body and entrusted it to the teams who did the tests in the wind tunnel.

Does the need to please a rider like Pozzovivo in any way create difficulties for the company?

We can also be very fast. We demonstrate this, for example, if one of our athletes wins an important jersey and needs to be prepared quickly. So We can produce two or three complete kits in just one week, but these are operations that nail the company. You have cutting machines that have to stop from a batch of 3.000 stitches to make just 6. Maybe some scheduled deliveries might be missed. The rider who is caught at the last minute requires a series of considerations and careful motorcycle management.

So the ideal is to be done with the teams before the racing season and then get back to day-to-day production?

Exact. The fitting is normally done in October, even if for example the DSM was taken at the last minute and we did it in DecemberThe first kit must be ready by December, when the team presentation takes place. Then there are the first deliveries, ready for when, for example, racing begins in January.

What is the use of having pro teams in terms of development?

Professionals make great testers. If a pad is good enough for them, it will be good enough for amateurs too.A garment that can withstand the many washes of a pro jersey will have no problems in the home washing machine. They pay attention to the collar and to details that perhaps a cycle tourist doesn't need., but they increase our know-how.

Are users still looking for team replica jerseys?

Less and less, unfortunately, also because perhaps what is missing is the charismatic champion who makes his shirt a cult objectThe amateur is detaching itself from the racing environment and it is no coincidence that there are big trendy brands that don't have teams, but produce very high numbers.

So what is the advantage of having these teams?

Our owner, Claudio Mantovani has a particular affection for the world of racing, because his brother was also a rider. This is why we invest in teams, perhaps more for sentimental reasons than for any real return.

How much material does a rider receive?

All kinds of shirts, three jackets, accessories, everything you need for different types of situationsThey rarely wear tights. And what they receive at the beginning of the year isn't necessarily enough to last them the whole year. For consumption, but also because perhaps before the Tour a change of graphics is studied.

Do you have the rider profiles of the riders you worked with, just as the frame builders have their measurements?

We keep all the cards, but changing models often makes it necessary to retake all the measurements.

So what do we do with Pozzovivo?

For now, the first shipment of materials has been received. For the rest, we await the team's instructions.

She smiles. Despite the professional's great concreteness, it is clear that being part of this world requires flexibility and the ability to immediately deal with unpredictable situationsAnd all in all, it won't be such a tough climb for a little guy like Domenico.