Someone like Sagan, who manages to to finish 12th on the Poggio and then to finish fourth in the sprint after 300 kilometres, is he really so far behind in terms of condition? Coming back from Sanremo, this was the question that was buzzing around in my head and the most plausible answer was that the Slovakian's class is such that, with the necessary experience, Peter had managed to stay hidden until the right moment and then gritted his teeth. If he had been really well, he would have followed the shots in person and maybe he would have raised the stakes. Therefore, given that these days "Peterone" is running the Volta a Catalunya and with him there is his coach Sywester Szmyd, take stock of the situation in view of the classics will serve to give the right dimension to one of the most anticipated protagonists. That despite the passport, we perceive as one of us: Italian acquired through experience and philosophy.
Five weeks in Gran Canaria: how much of an impact did it have?
You can imagine we weren't able to do much. But Peter has a winning mentality, and I also thought he had good legs at Sanremo, enough to sprint with some very good numbers. However it is clear that the height is missing, which is so useful to himTirreno gave him a first… pass of intensity and here at Catalunya we want to add the rest.
Is it true that he decided it?
I don't know who he spoke to or who made the announcement. I do know, however, that At the beginning of the Tirreno, Enrico Poitschke, the head of the sports directors, called me, and he told me that there was this possibility. I talked about it with Peter who agreed and we imagined a a different approach route to the North than usual, to make up for that period of downtime.
Do you think we can get to Flanders just as well?
Like when we didn't go to high altitudes. We've lost 5 weeks of work, we'll have to do everything rightDuring the first training camp in Peschiera, it was too cold to do certain work. Instead, in Gran Canaria we were in the specific work phase, and Peter had to stop.
At 31 years old, is the condition easily found?
Time passes for everyone, including him. We noticed this last year at the Tour and throughout the seasonWhile the younger riders got into shape quickly, we needed the hard work of the Tour to arrive at the Giro in winning form. So it's clear that It takes him longer to get into condition than it did when he was 21 and after the winter he was immediately a winner in Australia. Or when he took a week of real vacation after the classics, then went to California and won the overall standings.
In a race like Catalunya, is it possible to do any specific work, or does simply running ultimately result in training?
It's so tough that... just run. It's not one of those races where you have a leisurely stage and can plan some intense workouts. Here the intensity is imposed on you by others. We tried to do the stage for him on the first day and I expect him to get better and better. The path is tough, but we are not here just to trainAs mentioned before, Peter has a winning mentality and wants to be a protagonist anyway.
Could we have risked going straight to Belgium for Harelbeke and Ghent-Wevelgem after Sanremo?
It was not worth changing the program started at Tirreno, because that fourth place in Sanremo can mean everything and also nothingAt that point we would have gone to Belgium to play the races, but If someone like Peter isn't at least 85 percent, he'd be in for a beating. from which he wouldn't have recovered. And the first weekend wouldn't have been useful for Flanders and Roubaix. We're working towards these goals and for the rest of the season. We're not interested in finding a fast form that doesn't last long.
