The bite of the Cobra on the crazy Paris-Roubaix 2021. Stronger than mud, the terrible cobblestones and lactic acid, Sonny Colbrelli broke the spell that lasted 22 years, crossing the finish line with his arms raised in the French velodrome that did not see a Italian to transit first since the spring of 1999, when the honor fell to Andrea Tafi.
A sprint of heart and determination to beat his fellow adventurers, namely the surprising Belgian Florian Veermersch (2nd) and the great Dutch favorite Mathieu Van der Poel (3rd), conquering the queen of the classic cycling monument which he rejected instead an unfortunate Gianni Moscon (4th), stopped first by a puncture and then by a fall while on the run alone.
The orange Merida bike raised to the sky as a sign of jubilation by a Sonny covered in mud and then the dip in the lawn where a cascade of tears leaves room are the snapshots of a day from the past that will remain forever in the history of blue cycling . “This is my year and I won the race that has always been in my dreams after Flanders”, he said still excited and with the mud hiding his features and underlining the great effort made in the saddle on this terrible Sunday. October in the Hell of the North. His eyes were still shining even on the podium when he raised the iconic trophy to the sky, that is one of the stones of the mythical pavè, and then sang the Mameli Hymn, a motif that this year resounds in every corner of the planet.
The unusual name Sonny was chosen by father Federico, a fan of the Miami Vice TV series, in which one of the protagonists was James “Sonny” Crockett. “Many people ask me if I’m a foreigner,” jokes the person concerned when asked about the origin of the name. The nickname “Cobra”, on the other hand, is borrowed from an indirect cousin who ran the Mille Miglia. In his career, the 31-year-old from Brescia has never managed to establish himself in a stage of a great lap, but in 2021 he shifted to another gear, starting to collect heavy jerseys. In June he wore that tricolor after his victory at the Italian Championship in Imola, which last month was replaced by the star-studded European champion, who yesterday shined in the most famous one-day race in the world of two wheels.
His beginnings in mountain biking helped him in this venture on French soil, on the dirt roads around his town of origin, Casto, in Val Sabbia, a stone’s throw from Lake Garda. A passion that led him to move on the road and become a professional, running his first Giro d’Italia in 2012 at the age of 21, the youngest in the pink platoon of that edition. To suffer, as he did today
in the saddle for more than 6 hours, he learned it on his skin at the age of 18, when he went every morning, at dawn, to Unidelta in Vestone, where he worked as a worker, working between handles and pipes even outdoors and with freezing temperatures. Sacrifice and humility, without ever giving up: this is how he forged that physique that yesterday sent him to Heaven asking for the Hell of Roubaix.