New threads
Photo: © Fassa Bortolo

Lead 'Em Out: The Guido Trenti Journal

Likeable 30 year old Guido Trenti was born in Italy to an Italian father and an American mother, so the Fassa Bortolo rider holds dual citizenship and a USA Cycling racing license. Trenti was proud to represent the United States last year in the world road championships in Zolder, Belgium. Trenti is known as a consummate team rider and his role on his new Fassa Bortolo squad in 2003 will be to act as key lead-out man for sprinter Alessandro Petacchi.

• Index to all entries

Champagne dreams come true

Trofeo Luis Puig & Vuelta a Valenciana, February 22 - March 1

On Saturday February 22, I flew to Spain where I was hoping for nice warm weather. When we got there, I and some Fassa Bortolo teammates went for a 40km ride, then had our massages and dinner. Sunday morning we were ready for the Trofeo Luis Puig, the first race with "my" sprinter Petacchi. At Trofeo Puig, we were looking to kick off our season together well, since I'm the last man in his leadout "treno".

We went all-out from the start which happens often in Spanish races and right away, the climb made the selection where the whole Fassa Bortolo were in front and the big surprise was that Cipollini was dropped with his whole team.

After that, there was a big battle for the next 100km with Cipollini's team chasing hard, then a let-up for the 80 riders that were left in the front group once the gap stabilized 5' ahead of Mario & Co.

With a top sprinter like Petacchi up front, Matteo Tosatto, Marco Velo and yours truly organized his leadout. With 1,500m to go, Velo took a huge pull, going 60km/h for over almost a kilometer, then Tosatto wound it up even more! Matteo swung off with 400m to go. I heard a big crash behind and turned around to see if Petacchi was still on my wheel. Yeah, tutto ok! I dove into the final curve and gave it full gas and at 200m, Petacchi took off. Once he went, I raised my hands almost right away because I could see he was impossible to pass... we won! And that night we had a few victory toasts at dinner.

Frigo pulls on the leader jersey
Photo: © AFP

The next day, Monday, was an anticlimax. We went for an 80km ride and just relaxed. The next day was the Vuelta Valenciana, a hard stage race. With the prologue of 9km and the tricky, winding course, I didn't take any risks... our guy Dario Frigo won and got the leader's jersey which was great. He was my roommate and I could see how focused he was in this race. Once again, we had another victory toast at dinner to Frigo's win. Wednesday we had a winding stage, very tricky especially for Fassa Bortolo since we had to ride on front all day to defend Frigo's lead. We went hard from the beginning of the stage, but eventually a break got away and finished with 40 seconds lead, enough for Frigo to lose his jersey. After a hard day of hard tempo, I finished at 10 minutes in the sprinters' group.

Thursday was another nervous, winding and hard stage at Volta Valenciana. We were all pretty tired, especially because there were a lot of car transfers in this race. Once again, I was in the grupetto with Cipo, Petacchi, Quaranta and Hondo at 14 minutes. We knew that Friday would be the decisive stage, and Fassa Bortolo stayed close to Frigo all day. We powered away and when we hit the base of the final climb, with a mountaintop finish, Frigo was right up front. He was second on the stage but we took back the race lead and leader's jersey! I was 8 minutes behind and was really, really tired after all the hard work on the road. But once again, the laughs and victory toasts at dinner washed it all away.

Petacchi takes the final stage
Photo: © AFP

Saturday was the last and now most important day at Volta Valenciana for Fassa Bortolo. We wanted not only to keep the leader's jersey but also try and win the only sprinters' stage with Petacchi. From the start, we knew it was going to be hard since everyone was attacking all the time. Nonetheless, we managed to maintain control of the race despite the wind and plenty of echelons that formed. Due to the tough conditions, only 50 riders were left in the front group and were so tired from pounding the pedals we couldn't get our leadout train organized for Petacchi. I managed to bring him on to the "treno" of Cipo's team Domina Vacanze who were working for their young sprinter Bennati; it was the best position for him and Petacchi went on to win the stage just like we worked for. With all these victory toasts at Fassa Bortolo, I have to be careful since I'm going to get used to drinking champagne! Back home to Italy for a break now.

Thanks for reading
Guido