It was a heart attack, one of those blows that leave you breathless and take you away with your mind chasing everything and everyone. A year without Gianni Savio, who died at just 76 years old, after a long illness that caused him to die much earlier. I still remember the message that arrived on my cell phone from Annalisa and Nicoletta, Gianni’s two daughters. «For many he was the Prince, for us he has always been “Pi”, our rock, our point of reference, our example, our shelter, our life teacher, our hero, our courage, our enthusiasm, our heart, our great pride», they wrote to me. And I felt my blood run cold, even though I was prepared, but one is never prepared, one cannot be.
Blessed is memory, which supports us, which helps us not to forget, which helps us make this absence less painful, but more full. As in the speeches made in this year that flew by. How many times have we found ourselves talking about Gianni with friends who appreciated his way of being. How many times have we lost ourselves in thought in the memory of that Lord who moved and spoke as a gentleman, with the class that was education, never arrogance, as Paola, his wife, well knew.
«Che taught us to face life with the same grit and determination that he always asked of his runners… well, he didn’t say to us that they were “bad”, to them yes, but he always talked about sporting wickedness, what according to him was needed to attack races, to win them», Annalisa and Nicoletta wrote to me a year ago. He taught us that even placings have meaning, if achieved with courage. He taught us that you can be a team even with a small team. He taught us that you can dream of winning important things and from time to time he even won something important, without ever giving himself too much importance. «Dear Pier…», was his incipit to every phone call, which ended with «I always thank you for your availability…», when he was the first to be so.
I miss his phone calls and his reports after a stage of the Giro. I miss his comments on the current state of cycling. I miss his Croci chocolates, which made everything sweeter. Which was a lot of Christmas, even on that December 30th a year ago, before that little message, full of love and which spoke of a goodbye.
