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Better than ever: A conversation with Paolo Bettini
Paolo Bettini has won just about everything in his career – World Cup titles, cycling’s monuments, stages in all three grand tours and the Olympic gold medal – but he still hasn’t been on the top step at the world championships.
Fresh off winning a stage at the Vuelta a España, Bettini will headline the always powerful Italian team in Sunday’s elite men’s road race. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood sat down with Bettini at the Vuelta earlier this month to gauge the Cricket’s hopes of bouncing into the rainbow jersey. Here are excerpts from the interview:
VeloNews.com: After winning so much in your career, what motivates you now?
Paolo Bettini: I have to say the world championships. This is the only thing I need to win to make a perfect career, even though I have to say I am very content to have won what I have already. I am always trying to be at the front of the races that I haven’t won. The world title by far is the most important one. I’d also like to win a Tour of Flanders before I retire.
VN: How come you haven’t won a worlds?
PB: Why I haven’t I won a Flanders yet? And so many others? Racing is like that and today everything is very specialized. I’ve been close a lot of times, I’ve raced well, but I still didn’t win. Cycling is like that.
VN: Do you see the world’s as an Italian-Spanish showdown?
PB: No, because I also see the Kazakh team very strong. Vinokourov is very concentrated and before, the team had just three riders, now it has six. They all rode the Vuelta. I think Boogerd will be very good, but for him to win, he’ll have to arrive alone to the finish, which will be difficult. Anything is possible.
VN: What do you think of the course?
PB: It’s about 22km a lap with a decisive bit right in the middle. There’s a narrow road that’s only 3.5 meters wide where there’s not a straight stretch for more than 500 meters. The most important climb is very difficult because you hit the base of the climb after coming off a very fast descent. Where the descent ends there’s a steep section at 14 percent right at the bottom of the climb. The first 20 can take advantage to begin the climb with a clean shot, but those coming from the back will find it more complicated. It’s a change where you’re going 80-90kph and, in 200 meters, you’re going 15kph. Those who aren’t at the front will run into a mess with chains falling off, braking, crashing, very complicated. If it rains, and I hope not, only 15 will finish.
VN: And compared to Madrid last year?
PB: Last year in Madrid the vertical climbing was 2,850m. In Salzburg, it’s about 3,000m, so it’s not much of a difference. But it’s much more complicated with the narrow roads in Salzburg. It’s one thing to have 200 riders on roads that are 30 meters across, it’s something else to have the entire peloton on a road that’s 3.5 meters across. It can be easy, but it’s a lot more difficult.
VN: Anyone who you wouldn’t like to see win the worlds?
PB: I will only be happy if Bettini wins the worlds (smiles). If Valverde wins, he’ll deserve it because he’s a great rider. If Zabel wins, everyone’s happy in the peloton. If Vinokourov wins, no one can say anything. Boogerd, so close in the classics, he’d deserve it. It would bother me if someone won that no one expected and we look at each other and say, ‘who’s this?’
VN: Will you be the sole leader of Italy?
PB: No, I don’t think so. I believe I will be one of the captains. Last year was the team of Petacchi, without a doubt. We all confided in him. I don’t want to be the lone captain and put the brake on everyone else. I want to be as strong as I was in 2005. If I am, then I will need my teammates to recognize with sincerity how well I am going, and put themselves at my disposition. If we work together, we can make a great world championships. But if everyone is looking out for their own interests, everything just falls apart.
VN: How do you feel going into Salzburg?
PB: I think I am a little better than in 2005. The best Bettini ever was last year in Lombardia, a race that’s better suited for a climber than an all-rounder. But when I saw that I was putting Simoni into difficult on the climbs there, I knew I was stronger than ever.
VN: You haven’t won a classic this year, are the world’s more important than ever?
PB: There are still some classics. Last year I didn’t win until October, and I won both Zurich and Lombardia. Since 2000, I have always won a classic. I think I am the only rider from right now who’s done that. This year, well, I was second at Liège behind Valverde. I prepared well for the classics this year, but sometimes you can’t always have the luck.
VN: What is the win you’re most proud of?
PB: The Olympics.
VN: But it’s a race without a lot of history in cycling ...
PB: The Olympics themselves have a lot of history, cycling came later. Life isn’t just cycling and I believe I will always be the Olympic champion, even 50 years from now. If we ask people outside of the cycling community who won the world championships last year, they probably couldn’t tell you. If you ask who the Olympic champions were, they will likely remember.
VN: What’s changed in your time in cycling?
PB: Eight months ago I would have said everything was going for the better. Now I will say like before or even worse, in all senses. Including the Giro, like the stage to the Plan de Corones. The peloton didn’t protest, but simply asked one thing and they misinterpreted us. And it’s a fact they left the peloton looking ridiculous. We only wanted to annul the dangerous descent that was covered in snow. The public understood that we didn’t want to climb the Plan de Corones. Not a lot has changed, but I don’t want to speak about doping. It’s not that it doesn’t interest me, but people make a lot of conclusions and I don’t want to say anything more. There are a lot of conflicts between the teams, the riders, the organizations, and there’s not strong enough cohesion to push us forward. If they just put everyone inside a shut room and we could talk about the problems, maybe we could find a solution. If have the meetings in the middle of a race, in front of the TV cameras and journalists, then everyone just says what comes to mind and what interests them, we’ll never arrive to a conclusion.
VN: Who do you admire the most?
PB: I like one rider a lot who’s not easy to talk about right now, but Ullrich for me is a rider who, at least physically, has done so much in cycling the past 10 years. He’s a situation now that’s not easy for him, but physically, as an athlete, he’s a rider I’ve always admired. He’s the only one in the past 10 years who’s been able to win all types of races, from the world time trial title, the Olympics, the Tour and the Vuelta. If you look at what he’s done, it’s impressive. I don’t feel envy, but admiration. I would have liked to have had his capacity with my head. There are others, too, like Zabel, who is a symbol of cycling, a dedicated life, someone who fights, win or lose, someone who also contends for the victory. If there’s a hard stage and he could take it easy, but he never does.
VN: Have you thought about retirement?
PB: I still can look two years ahead, at least through 2008. After that, I sincerely haven’t any idea what I will do. I have time to think about it.
VN: What you continue with cycling?
PB: It’s my life. I began racing at seven. I can’t imagine to completely remove myself from the world that’s given me everything. My father put me on a bike when I was seven and I’ve been lucky enough to what started as a game has turned into my livelihood. I think I’ve done alright. I don’t want to leave it all behind, but I am not sure what role I can play.
