Marco Saligari – The Commisar's Report

Behind the wheel
Photo: © Tim Maloney

Marco Saligari was a pro for 12 years, where he earned the nickname “Il Commisario” for his ability to astutely read a race and provide leadership on the road for his team-mates. Since the beginning of this year Marco has been the director of sport for Colnago-Landbouwkrediet, a squad of 23 riders, most of whom are “neoprofessionisti” or young riders. Saligari will be writing a column this year for Cyclingnews.com

Index to Marco Saligari diary entries

Cipo Conquers The World

Hello Again my friends... It's been a while, but I'm back again! I want to talk about some of the final races of the season, like the recent World Championships in Belgium. My boys Popovych and Metlushenko rode on the Ukraine team, as well as our "Americano" Jeff Louder on his national team, while for Italy we had Bernucci on the team for the first time, but he was a "riserva" and watched from the team box.

We left from Italy three days before the World's with the near certainty that the race would be ended with group sprint; that's why of the two Ukrainian riders Metlushenko was the most psyched up since he is the faster of the two. Popovych would have tried to get in a break far from the finish. The approach to the World Championships went along without particular problems; our job was to prepare the riders on the fast, fast and practically flat Zolder course, so we worked on leg speed by motor pacing a lot, with long sessions at 60 km/hr.

Finally it was the moment of the truth after a lot of work; the start of the Zolder World Championships. From the beginning, the circuit of Zolder struck my eyes with an indescribable show of colors. My loyalties were divided; like a tifoso for the Ukraine team with my boys, and also for Italy my country. It was a particularly beautiful moment at the start with all the athletes with the national team jerseys, from the nearly unknown riders to the big favorites like Cipollini, Zabel and McEwen. Museeuw was in the house; the local favourite who was stalked at every moment by cameramen and journalists who made it seem like a Hollywood premiere. Unfortunately Museeuw wouldn't even smile he was so focused before gunshot that started the World's.

I found a point on the circuit where it was possible to see the riders three times every lap, and then I could also take advantage of a giant screen to follow the rest of the race. Round and round the peloton flowed, at an incredible pace all day. I walked back to the start / finish line to watch the sprint and after the bell sounded for the last lap, with everything under control of the Italian team, it seemed like only a moment until the final sprint began. My Italian team did an incredible job to pilot Cipollini to the right point on the finishing strait, where he launched himself to victory.

To hear the yell of emotion from Cipo as he passed me after the finish is something I won't easily forget, as I won't forget the Italian national anthem with my hand on my heart, surrounded by my fellow Italians all with emotion gripping us. It was indeed a great day and a great show for all of the numerous spectators. It's nice to be able to talk about the legacy of cycling and the great performance of Mario Cipollini in the Zolder World Championships instead of vicissitudes that mean little to the sport of cycling.

A prestissimo
Marco