A "Pink Pinotti" – Marco Pinotti from Bergamo, Italy, enjoys his time as race leader in the 2007 Giro d'Italia.
Photo ©: Sirotti

Pink Pinotti: The 2008 Marco Pinotti diary

Italian Marco Pinotti is widely respected in the peloton, and when he found himself in the leader's maglia rosa of the Giro d'Italia in 2007 he received accolades from afar. The affable Bergamasco continues with T-Mobile in 2008 – under its new incarnation Team High Road – and continues to give Cyclingnews' readers an inside look at his professional life.

You can also learn more at Pinotti's personal website.

• Index to all entries

January 9, 2008

A new season and training

Hi all.

It's a long time since last time I wrote and many things have happened. I am glad to say that everything is fine and I look forward to start the new season. [For an update on Pinotti read last fall's interview: Engineering a new path - ed.]

During the last few months I've already gotten to know all new team-mates at the first meeting in Köln, Germany, right after the end of season. Then I had a bit of holiday and rest, and immediately started again. At first I was doing core training, then riding my bike through the busy road of my province of Bergamo.

Marco Pinotti during the World Championships
Photo ©: Gregor Brown

In the last two seasons I have changed my training attitude from group rides without a plan to specific and focused solo riding. There are two reasons to explain this: the first is that in the last years the number of professional riders of Bergamo has dramatically decreased, from almost 30 to less than 10; the second is dealing with team meetings, camps and my own business, it is more and more difficult to meet others for rides.

Along with that, I've started training more specifically thanks to the use of a power-metre (in my case a SRM) and I get used to doing intervals, tempo work-outs, et cetera. I like to complete all the work-outs planned, and sometimes it's easier if you are alone. You are able to focus on your performance and recovery time. And with the help with Trainingpeaks software, I can of course still ride in a big group, and I usually plan to do that when I have to face a long endurance ride.

Ciao, Marco.