«I just spoke with Dr. Corsetti – says Viviani – and the check-up is confirmed 15 days after the surgery, so no bikes this weekend. I'll resume on Wednesday with hour-long walks. And the checkup will be on Friday, February 5th or Saturday the 6th. It's not like a leg injury, which you know how it works. The heart does it itself, no control, if not the chip they put under my skin with which I will be monitored whatever I do."
There is no possibility of anticipating the return, but 4 days won't make the difference. And There are some very important trophies up for grabs this year to risk relapses.
Crazy heart
Viviani was in Verona, engaged in one of those identical early-season training sessions. It's been a while since he did SFR on the Torricelle climb, but being back from a short retreat in Spain with the Cofidis, had decided to spend a few days at his parents' house.
«Then I would have returned to Spain for another 5 days before Almeria – he says – and so I was there training, on a normal Sunday, like many others. And while I was doing the climb at 150 beats, I started to feel palpitations abnormal. Nothing like this had ever happened to me. Just enough time to realize it and look at the computer display and I saw that it was 225-227 beats that didn't go downIt wasn't a fault of the poorly positioned band, in short. So I stopped and after 30 seconds my heart rate dropped. I got scared, but I pedaled back home for an hour, with the right heartbeat and certain thoughts that I won't tell you about. I've had arrhythmias in the past, but they were due to stress and the coffee I stopped drinking…».
Corsets Guarantee
Thus begins Elia's story, from the house in Munich where it is about to begin the second week of rest imposed by the Ancona team who underwent the ablation thanks to which he will soon be able to resume pedaling normally.
"I had passed the medical exam on December 18th," he says, "with the Holter monitor and everything else used in these cases, and there hadn't been the slightest problem. But since something like this had never happened to me, I called Dr. Corsetti. I worked with him during the Liquigas years. And then, since Athletes residing abroad must still have a medical representative in ItalyI've been working with him since I've been in Monaco. Roberto is very precise, both regarding suitability and managing the Adams and the products to be declared. I feel at ease with him."
Two weeks of stoppage
The fact is that Corsetti has to meet Ulissi in Ancona the next day, Monday, January 17th. And even though he tells Viviani not to worry, he suggests that It's worth taking advantage of the trip to the Marche to be visited by Professor Antonio Dello Russo's team.
«It's like when you go to the mechanic and the car doesn't have the problem anymore – he says – the fear was that the tachycardia wouldn't come back. Instead they stimulated the heart in the right way and the palpitations started againThey talked about inflammation left over from a previous infection. I didn't have Covid, so that explanation couldn't exist. Anyway. they did the ablation and then put me on rest for two weeksI wanted to try going down to 10 days, but it doesn't make much of a difference, better to heal completely. Yesterday I had an ultrasound scan. to determine whether the arteries have healed at the point where they entered, that is, at the groin level, and everything is fine."
A little luck
Obviously, plans are changing, but not too much. Elia certainly won't be racing in Almeria, scheduled for February 14th, but He will return to Spain for another training camp ahead of his UAE Tour debut..
«I won't get there as I hoped – he says – but there will be plenty of time to grow up to the Tirreno, where I'd like to pull something together. So I have to wait for the right time, trusting in the fact that thanks to the chip they implanted under my skin near my collarbone, they can monitor me 24 hours a day from Ancona. I'll have to keep it for a year and a half and if there are no other anomalies, we will remove it. For sure, better that it happened to me now than in June. And better in training than in running. I wonder if I would have had the sensitivity, maybe going full blast, to recognize the palpitations. I should have retired, but I might have felt dizzy. So I'll return to Spain after my birthday (February 7th, ed.) and head back to the Emirates. If I stop in Milan, maybe I'll hit the track in Montichiari. Otherwise, I'll stop there in the 10 days before the Tirreno. I've already done two good blocks of work in as many retreats at the end of the year. We're trying to keep the train on the right track."
