Davide Cassani, alert for new Vincenzo Nibali

The words of Davide Cassani

Davide Cassani took stock of Italian cycling, starting with the news of the retirement of two young men, Gabriele Benedetti and Mattia Petrucci. “Often, very often, we talk about ‘sacred fire’ when we refer to that desire that drives someone to do something. There is no doubt that even sports, when at the beginning it requires a lot of sacrifice and obviously still does not bring great satisfaction, whoever plays it, is constantly questioning himself. Indeed, it happened that two promising cyclist riders, Gabriele Benedetti class of 2000 and Mattia Petrucci class of 2000 threw in the towel, as they say in the jargon. They said that this way they could not continue. This is not a good thing.”

“Obviously, something needs to be done so that a radical change in the concept of sports and sporting activities can be achieved. You cannot ask only for medals just as you cannot ask the garden to produce wonderful tomatoes without having sown the seeds. It is an important message that we get from the two escapes because truly one can indeed talk about escapes. Because they are two boys who did not run away from a passion, that will remain with them all their lives, but they ran away from a lack of reason for living. One, or rather two boys manage to reach professionalism, they realize the great dream of making their passion a job, to be able to run the big races, which they have been dreaming of since childhood, in short, to finally reach the longed-for professionalism. And what do they do upon reaching this milestone? They quit. And why? Isn’t it that the absolutely normal “pressure” for a professional racer came on the shoulders of these guys when they were not yet ready? Isn’t it that they lived as professionals when they were still juniors or Under 23 kids? Sports should be cultivated just as the little plant in the garden should be cultivated. No tree grows if it does not have daily care. Sport should be taught, in small doses, especially a sport of hard work like cycling. It’s easy to make a kid win, you train him twice as hard as one of his peers, but then what? I keep training him twice as hard as everyone else? And where’s the fun in that? When I was a junior I couldn’t wait to get out on my bike and on Saturday nights I had a hard time getting to sleep because I couldn’t wait for race time. My father used to follow me but he never dared to say a word to me about my cycling. Everything was fine with him. He was happy because he saw me happy. It is never broke that balance of mine dictated by the desire to ride a bicycle doing what was right for my age. My mother did not want me to ride and for her I had to go to school. I had to study? No bike. I arrived at 21 with the desire to rock the world. The day I turned pro I fulfilled my childhood dream. I was charged up, motivated and aware that I would find a group of riders much stronger than me. But I had no fear. I was ready. You know when you are sitting in a dentist’s chair having a tooth pulled? You know some of it hurts so you are prepared. I felt ready to “feel bad “and I had that will to fight so high that nothing and no one scared me. I was whole, until a few months before I was an amateur, training like an amateur and asking myself for amateur results. I was going to school and being raised. I was studying and running. No one ever asked me who knows what. I have the impression that so many young people come to professionalism old in spirit, exhausted in ambition, worn out by family pressures or whatever.”

“I can’t believe that a 23-year-old boy gives up at the same time that he lands in professionalism. Something is not right. Our young people are like trees subject to any kind of wind and any kind of storm in the form of temptation. The tree withstands wind and storm, a seedling does not. Young people must be protected and followed. They need to take root, grow up, and when they grow up they will be ready to withstand all kinds of difficulties. The abandonment of Benedetti and Petrucci makes one think. But I applaud them for the choice they made. Why? Because they listened to themselves and not to other people. They chose for themselves and came to the conclusion that for their own good it was better to quit. I hope they made the right choice.”