They get better with time, like (good) wine. Maybe they don’t win, or not like they used to, but they’re (still) there: keeping up with the best and incapable of quitting (unlike some of their younger colleagues). They are Vincenzo Nibali, Domenico Pozzovivo and Alejandro Valverde: they have 118 years between them, 118 years of pure class. Despite Hindley’s success, they are the true winners of yesterday’s Giro d’Italia stage. Practically no one imagined them high up while other “greats” (Yates, Ciccone, Dumoulin) crumbled. Not them. But they are still there. They are always there.
It’s first and foremost a question of class. Valverde and Nibali, for example, have always been something special, and were destined from the beginning to have careers brimming with victories. The classics, Grand Tours, long climbs or explosive short climbs, dirt road: sometimes people are just born champions.
Domenico Pozzovivo is a slightly different story. He’s never been a star. Of course he has always been very fast, but his palmarès can’t even compare to the other two athletes’. However, what he’s been doing this Giro d’Italia may be even more extraordinary. He has a total of more than 20 plates and screws all over his body, from a series of terrible accidents. No one wanted him this year, but he didn’t give up. And then came the call, results in hand, from Intermarchè, who were right to bet on him.
But watch out. Because it’s not (only) a question of character, determination, wanting to suffer and innate talent. There’s a lot more behind Sunday’s extraordinary performance on the Blockhaus. More and more, cycling is dominated by athletes who can endure long periods of stress at extremely high power (Pogacar, for example, covered the last 50 km of the Strade Bianche at an average of about 350 watts). These three “old men” knew how to change their preparation to try and get as close as possible to those new numbers. In practice: less quantity (less hours on the bike), but more quality (more intense training). Again and again. Even more obsessive recovery (via nutrition) and body care. For example, Nibali spends more and more time in the gym (not just in winter) working hard on core stability strength and on flexibility. Details? Maybe. But as we know, in sports— especially at the highest level— details always make a difference.