In the Tudor Pro Cycling which debuts at the Giro d’Italia, there is a debutante who appears on the pink stage and is Elisa Nicoletti, their press officer. Twenty-five years old, always smiling: a pleasant person to deal with.
The world of communications professionals is rather complex, at least as much as following up on journalists’ requests is. There are the press officers… torturers: those who make it their mission to prevent you from working. And then there are those who understand and come to your aid, as long as you also recognize the reasons. For each of them, the start of the Giro is a centrifuge. The press conferences to present the teams will take place between tomorrow and Thursday, amidst a thousand details and directed by RCS Sport. Then the rest of the ride will be accounting and telling, making sure that runners are visible even when they don’t stand out and if anything managing its popularity in the event of a conquest, large or small.
The first day of the Giro
Elisa is the daughter of Dario Nicoletti, former professional, great supporter of Franco Ballerini and now sporting director of Biesse-Carrera, who won the Liberation Grand Prix in Rome on 25 April. You have already followed a Tour, but on the side of the caravan. Therefore, it occurred to us to find out what a press officer packs in his kit for his first day at the Giro and for those that follow.
«I hope I don’t forget anything – he says laughing – but they absolutely must be in the folder phone, computer, hard drives, chargers: chargers are important. The power bank, the camera. And yesterday I received all the various tools for the GoPro. I already had it, but not the accessories to use it. Mainly this, I would say, all electronic things…
«Instead we have quite cataloged the information on the runners, even if nowadays with sites like procyclingstats.com having information and statistics is really easy. More personal information comes out over time. So for example we know a little less about the new ones this year, but the Giro d’Italia is the best opportunity. Interesting stories always come outalso because being the first great Giro of the team and some of the guys, we will certainly discover new things.”
You will discover that having done the Tour with the caravan is probably not the same…
Let’s say I will have a slightly more responsible role. The caravan is beautiful. There are always positive moments, meeting new people, stopping in towns, seeing the public waiting for the race. It’s a moment of celebration. With the team it will be different. Even when we win, we obviously hope to win, we always think about the next day. Ultimately, cycling is made up of high moments, but they are few compared to the down ones and you must always look at the glass half empty. You can win, but the next day is always a new day. As happened for example at Romandia. We won the prologue with Maikel Zijlaard and two days later he crashedhe broke his elbow and… hello!
How do you think you will organize the work?
As a team, compared to others who make the press release for each stage, we make pieces on the site in case of great results. So a victory, a podium, that is, very important moments. Instead we tend to take the runners’ statements and send them to the journalists’ WhatsApp group. Then things can change based on requests. We are a Swiss team, so during Romandie there was more movement around Yannis Voisard and we did more because there were so many expectations. It’s obvious that a stage podium at the Giro d’Italia, as well as wearing a leader’s jersey is more important than winning a much lower level raceso we say that we will evaluate day by day.
What relationship do you have with the athletes on your team?
The way I grew up, in the role I always had in cycling with my dad’s teams, in the past I was almost friends with the riders. Now we talk more about work relationships, so it really happens with few people. Many of us follow each other on social media, we respond to each other’s stories, but I would say that we barely talk to anyone on a regular basis. With some we see very little. For example last year I did 150-160 days of running, but with Arvid De Klejn I only did one run: Milan-Turin, which he won. So I basically saw him in training camp, I saw him in that race and then I saw him again at the training camp in October. This is also why in the end it is mainly about work relationships. This year the objective was also to follow Matteo and Alberto (Trentin and Dainese, ed.) with respect to the various Italian media. Dainese was supposed to start at Algarve and crashed. He then had to leave again at Tirreno, but he did not return. So I haven’t seen him since training camp in January. But we spoke a lot, also because the requests from the various media mainly come to me or in any case I take care of the Italian ones.
Can it be said? One of the least pleasant requests that happens is the press officer who asks to read the article before it is published…
I happen to ask this too, also because Tudor is an important company that pays a lot of attention to certain things. Our goal, however, is not so much to control, to change history as I have already said several times, but more make sure the name is spelled correctly, the person’s role is indicated correctly. And above all, as has happened this year in various articles, being a professional who must receive invitations, we cannot anticipate having received them too long in advance. Or at the Giro d’Abruzzo we had a Swiss journalist who was with us for all five days, reporting on Voisard’s approach to Romandie. In that case, we wanted to make sure that correct information was coming out. Then after a while you go on trust.
How did Elisa Nicoletti get into cycling?
Mum and dad were both cyclists, but my grandparents were also enthusiasts. So from the age of six I decided I wanted to race a bike and with my older sister we signed up for a local team. The first few months I went to the departure and I didn’t leave, I started crying. Then I started running. I did the very young people, the rookies and the students. But when my sister stopped, I watched her and realized that she was having more fun than me and I started to think about it. I divided my time between high school and cycling, it was quite tough to combine everything. And since in the end I liked what I studied, I thought that I didn’t have much talent, that I was certainly afraid of going downhill and being in the group, so I preferred to focus on my studies. But I wasn’t done with cycling, as I started going to races with my dad and his team. First VC Mendrisio and then Biesse-Carrera.
So always among runners?
I have photos from when I was little and the runners came to sleep at our house the day before the races. We have photos of them in the pool with my little sister in between them. Having studied linguistics, when I started studying English, French and German, speaking with them also helped me practice and overcome shyness. Then when I started working in Livigno, I had become the point of contact for my colleagues at the hotel when the runners arrived and we needed to give them assistance for check-in and the various requests they might have.
Has being the sports director’s daughter ever bothered you?
No, for me it was beautiful. Weekends meant going to the races with dad, so much so that I even started arguing with my friends because they wanted to go out and I said no, because I had to wake up early. Being in a small team, he could afford to take us preferring that we develop this passion, rather than having ourselves wander around on Sundays not knowing what to do.
Is there a lucky object that I would have with you at the Giro?
No, but maybe I’ll find it during the race and it will become one for the next few years.
So see you on Thursday in Turin?
I would say yes. I still have some things to do and then it will be time to start with the press conferences…
