We had spoken about it directly with Jonathan Milan and the same Friulian has reiterated the concept after the world championship chase: «I'm tired. I had a hard time recovering after the Tour of Italy». All this with a bronze medal around your neck! Which can only give us hope. Let's think about it: if at 23, after taking part in your first major Giro, with just a handful of days on the track to train, you finish third in a world championship, the glass is definitely half full.
However, with his coach, Andrea Fusaz we wanted to analyze the situation better of the “national Jonny” and better understand the reason for this slow recovery and this latent tiredness that remained in his legs.
The first GT
Fusaz makes a simple, yet important, point, linking the great Giro to tired legs, but also to mental fatigue. And there's one aspect that remains central to this whole discussion. this aspect is not so much the great Giro, but the first great Giro. A fundamental difference.
«Certainly – explains Fusaz – Milan didn't have the same brilliance that one can have before a major Giro, but all of this is normal for me, especially at his age. Jonathan left for the Giro d'Italia without any pressureNo one asked him anything. Then he took it upon himself with results, with the victory, the cyclamen jersey... all this led him to push things a bit too far, not only physically." In other words, he lacked that spark that makes you go beyond your limits.
Physiological decline
According to Fusaz, mental fatigue affects players when they don't "perform"—as they say these days—or at least when they don't perform at levels that go beyond certain limits. Because it should be remembered, however, that Milan hasn't been slow. Glasgow He expressed himself at very high and important standards. And the results speak for themselves: third with a 4'05 "868.
«Sometimes – Fusaz continues – we forget that we are dealing with human beings and not machines. Technically, Milan wasn't tired, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to do what they did. As I said, they were less brilliant.
«I wouldn't change anything about his post-Giro. We met the necessary timelines. After the recovery period, we needed to get back to working on the next objectives, but it's clear that if you leave tired, it takes a bit longer to get back to your best. But let's get back to the usual discussion, to the starting point: Milan was in its first major Giro. Furthermore, it must be considered that it is more difficult to recover in the middle of the season. It's not like the winter break where you can really spend two weeks doing absolutely nothing.
It's natural for a guy his age to suffer a bit in his first major Giro. We're not talking about a 28- or 30-year-old who's already done two, four, or seven Giros... Jonathan found himself faced with a huge workload for 20 days for the first time and with important goals, too." He couldn't give up, as other "tadpoles" were able to do.
Looking forward
This is not meant to be a trial. The memory goes to the World Cup Roubaix 2021 when Ganna was third in individual pursuit And we were all shocked. Villa himself recalled that episode. Besides, Jonny himself was the one playing for the gold!
«I hear certain results being talked about almost as if they were negative. – says Fusaz – but in the end we were second in the world in the quartet, first and third in the individual. Denmark had athletes who only raced on the track. Ours come from the street, and that's what counts... We're at world-class events: you can certainly find someone who can put their wheel in front of you."
Fusaz's painting goes hand in hand with the words of the city Marco Villa, who thinking about the Olympics He has already shown the way for next year: after the Giro, everyone will be calling on him. It's clear that this is all part of a broader program, one in which certain "macrocycles" of work are planned well in advance. These experiences, such as Ganna's exhaustion at the end of 2021 or Milan's lackluster performance after this year's Giro, merely pave the way. The right one, clearly.
