Roglic, Thomas and Almeida on the podium»- Corriere.it

The dry physique of the past, the keen eye on running. Ivan Basso da Cassano Magnago, twice king of the Giro (2006, 2010), is the Italian manager of Eolo Kometa (the other is his friend Alberto Contador) who struggles to survive in the cycling of the giants with an unlimited budget. An ant, between Ineos who lost Tao Geoghegan Hart yesterday and Soudal decimated by Covid, but with long legs.

Ivan How much is Davide Bais's triumph on the Gran Sasso worth for Eolo, in the stage where the big names (everyone was still there) slept?

«The Giro has a power: to amplify everything. The good things and the bad. For us, the success of Davide, who is a talented and stubborn Trentino man, is life. We've often finished with different riders in the top ten, which means the team is there. The Italian who wins in Italy has enormous value».

Fighting battleships takes away your sleep?

«Ours is a path of growth. Of all. I wasn't ready a few years ago: I'm a new sports manager, I have to grow up in my new role. We have two retreats for two weeks in the winter, we go to high altitudes, we all have four bikes, we work on materials: I try to optimize the budget. Contador and I have combined the best of our years of professionalism: this is the result. I'm less hot than him, but Bais moved me».

Is Evenepoel a fragile champion?

«He's one of the 5-6 best in the world and has an age, 23, which gives him some alibis. Roglic's wisdom and Thomas's self-management, Remco must acquire. And then, between crashes and Covid, he was really unlucky. We will have to see him again, but his qualities are not in question ».

Is Thomas's Ineos stronger than Roglic's Jumbo?

"Overall, definitely yes."

And will this detail make the difference in the end?

"I think so. Nobody, not even that phenomenon of Pogacar, wins a three-week race by himself».

Did Ganna let her down?

«But no, the unexpected is always around the corner at the Giro. Maybe you don't get Covid but then you slip around corners, like Geoghegan. Filippo has had an exceptional season so far, abandoning him after seven stages doesn't reduce him».

Could the Giro have better protected itself from the virus?

“We check ourselves every day. We had Fetter retire with fever, but it wasn't Covid. Priority to health".

Why is it so difficult in Italy to convince institutions to believe in this sport? Does cycling still pay for the mistakes of the past?

«It takes time, you have to be tenacious. It took me years of chasing to win a Giro, what matters is having a project, an identity and values ​​to transmit. If you work well, they notice you».

If you had the opportunity to speak with President Mattarella in Rome, what would you say to him?

«The stage of the Giro is there for all to see. There is little to say. You acquire credibility by example: six out of eight of my guys in the race here are Italian. Our sports director, Zanatta, is from Veneto. Of course, talents must be sought out and valued. It's not true that they all go abroad to join the World Tour teams. And then age: they're not all Pogacar or Evenepoel, we Azzurri mature later, give us time».

She was patient.

«In 1984, as a child, I was at the Arena di Verona to see Francesco Moser crowned. That day the dream of cycling and the Giro d'Italia came on in my mind. It took me 27 years."

The podium in Rome: go out of balance.

"Roglic, Thomas, Almeida, I don't know if in that order."

In monster cycling, who impresses you the most?

«Tadej Pogacar because he has everything. He would have won in any sport.'