Stories of national championships and strange crossbreedings. Tomorrow at the finish line in Sesto Fiorentino we will meet Velasco’s successor, while in Belgium Zottegem will greet Evenepoel’s heir. Stories of national championships and strange crossbreedings. Last year at the finish line in Comano Terme, right behind Velasco and Lorenzo Rota, Kristian Sbaragli achieved the best result in recent months: third. Then he took part in the World Cup in Glasgow and after four years of honorable service he discovered that he had to find a team. Alpecin-Deceuninck wouldn’t keep him and he joined Team Corratec: tomorrow’s Italian championship could be the way to appear on a more prestigious stage.
At the same time in Belgium two of his former Alpecin teammates will find themselves at odds after a week of slaps given and taken at the Baloise Belgium Tour. Merlier and Philipsen, two stages for the first and one for the second, to keep alive a rivalry that began when they already shared a shirt and employer. Who better than Sbaragli can guide us in this tangle of stories and names? Curious case for a tricolor that will be awarded on the Tuscan roads, the number one favorite will be one of his best friends – Alberto Bettiol – with whom he has shared training and dreams for a long time (the two are together in the opening photo of the Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau, won on 7 June by Van Gils with Bettiol in second place).
Kristian recently returned from training, tomorrow (today, for those reading this) he will just do a run and then wait for the race. Over Tuscany, as already in Grosseto for the time trials, a gray and heavy sky weighs on him that smells of heat, even if the forecast for Sunday also gives the possibility of rain.
How do you get to the Italian championship?
A little differently, because not having done the Giro, maybe there is a little less base. But I did several races, as a period in general I worked well enough to reach the Italian championship competitivelywhich is an important goal of the season.
Does knowing the roads and running close to home give you any advantages?
In the end, little really changes. I think everyone will have seen the roads: those who have already raced the Per Semper Alfredo know the uphill and downhill stretches. We’ll do five laps of the circuit, they’ll have time to measure him, it’s not a road race where you can invent something. Naturally, however, racing close to home is an additional incentive, it is the first Italian championship that I have done in Tuscany.
Can doing Italian well be the way to make a change and relaunch your career?
Surely. I think that objectively there are many riders who are going strong, who perhaps are more favored than us at the start. But we will do our best and the goal is always the same: It’s an important goal.
The strange thing is that one of the favorites could be your “good friend” Bettiol…
In the end, if you look at the results and the current condition of the runners, I think Alberto is the number one favorite on paper. He’ll have a good run, so on Sunday evening we’ll draw a line and see how it went.
In previous years you did classics, Giros or Tours: what do you think of this season away from the limelight?
It’s a little different. It’s a calmer environment, there’s less stress from the point of view of the result itself. As in all things, there are positive sides and slightly more negative sides. Not being invited to the Giro d’Italia was a disappointment that changed plans in the first part of the season. I found myself doing races that I didn’t know about, but in terms of performance I am quite satisfied, even if we haven’t achieved much in terms of results. However there is still a good chunk of the seasonso I think there is a chance to do it again.
What can you say about your former colleagues instead: did they get along when they ran together?
Let’s say that there was internal rivalry at the 2021 Tour. We were there with a sprint team, although we then kept the yellow jersey for the first week with Mathieu. It seems to me that Merlier won the first sprint and Philipsen came second. Jasper is six years younger and had yet to become what he is today. For us the reference sprinter was Tim and therefore objectively there was a bit of healthy rivalry.
Was Philipsen Merler’s last man?
He was a winner, perhaps that role was too small for him. When Tim won the first sprint, the roles remained the same, until Merlier finished outside the time limit and had to return home. So in the second part of the Tour it was Philipsen who did the sprinting. He made a couple of podiums (he came third twice and then second in Paris behind Van Aert, ed.) and failed to win, in fact I remember he was a bit disappointed. Instead, in 2022 he did well again and last year even more so.
So was it foreseeable that Merlier would leave in 2023?
Yes, objectively, even from the inside, it was a little predictable. In all teams, it is very difficult to keep two riders with the same characteristics. Maybe if there is a climber or a sprinter, even if you don’t have a very high budget, there is often the possibility of keeping them. However, two riders with the same characteristics are a real problem. Even if it wasn’t an economic issue, it could become a calendar problem, because in the end we were a team based on one-day races and stages. We didn’t have any ranking riders, so in the end those are the opportunities. And if you have two leaders, coexistence is unlikely to be possible. So finally a decision was made.
At the Tour of Belgium they were beaten to pieces, in your opinion is there a healthy rivalry between them or a bit of poison?
I don’t think there is any poison, I think more of a good rivalry. Also because, above all, Tim is a truly calm, peaceful person. It’s difficult to argue with him, he’s really super relaxed and in any case he also proved to be competitive at the Giro d’Italia and I’m happy for him too. He carried with him the fame of the one who couldn’t finish the Grand Tours, instead this year he won well at the start and also won the Rome stage well. I think it was a real satisfaction for him.
Could the fact that Philipsen is such a friend of Van der Poel have an impact on the choice?
Those are a little more personal things. I believe that choices are made 99 percent on the technical aspect and then on the rest. So I guess it was just evaluated what Jasper could bring the most to the team and In hindsight, I think they both gained. So in the end, everyone is happy…
For the day before (today) a walk or a rest?
Sgambatina. An hour and a half, two at most. Calm. It’s the day before the race, there will be time to work hard on Sunday.
