So from this year onwards Fabio Aru will work under the direction of Mattia Michelusi, Venetian born in 1985 (at the beginning of the photo @1_in_the_gutter), graduated in Sports Science with a specialization in Sports Science and Technique. A past as a rider, hence the studies, the passage to the Federal Study Centre as trainer of sports directors, the arrival to professionalism with Androni Giocattoli and then to the WorldTour, first with Ef Cannondale and now with the Team Qhubeka Assos. However, net of the securities in his possession, When a coach starts working with an athlete, books are certainly not the first source he draws from.
In fact, if it were that simple…
In fact, it isn't at all. I knew Aru as an athlete, but I didn't know Fabio as a person.Technology helps us plan distance training sessions and know what effects they have on the rider, but the fundamental aspect of the retreat in Spain was precisely that of getting to know himWe had planned one at altitude in January, but he preferred cross-country, so we adjusted our preparation. I am in favor of this discipline, it can be useful for any athlete, even for the climber. It offers stimuli that however need to be integrated with preparation for the roadObviously his goal wasn't to become world champion, but to train and do it in a stress-free environment.
So you redesigned your preparation based on the work done in cross-country?
By placing these training stimuli in a broad context, for example, consisting of longer sessions. Knowing yourself also leads to analyzing what you've experienced, because you learn from both the good and the bad moments. The feeling is that the first Aru trained on climbs to win, but now the climb is a difficulty to be faced and overcome. For this reason We also analyzed how he worked at the beginning and what he has done in the last two years.
It is therefore wrong to think that with Michelusi we can or should start from scratch.
Fabio is an experienced athlete, it would be wrong to think of making a clean sweepBut we need to work alongside him to understand how he responds to certain stimuli. We can have all the data in the world, but to understand how he reacts to workloads, for example, there's nothing better than looking at his faceIf he reaches the top of a climb exhausted, it means the effort was excessive. If he arrives smiling, then more can be done. Obviously, gradually. We're not at the top of the season yet. We will certainly increase it further because we will be able to better evaluate your answers.
Have you introduced any new elements into your work plan so far?
No, nothing. We simply integrated the cross. Even if it was interrupted, we continue to make concentrated efforts that it would be pointless to abandon completelyFabio believed in this path and it was right to pursue it, foreseeing a few more hints of the same intensity.
How do you see it?
I see him as really very motivated.
