Home » Pontoni, from champion to city: “Yet for two years no one has looked for me anymore”

Pontoni, from champion to city: “Yet for two years no one has looked for me anymore”

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Italian cyclocross coach. A big big responsibility, but also a big big honor. Daniele Pontoni, two world titles in his career, a World Cup, two Superprestige, almost twenty Italian titles between cross and mtb, finally is where a champion of his class should have been for a long time.

“It all started quickly thanks to the president of the Federciclismo Cordiano Dagnoni, the blue team manager Roberto Amadio and the president of the off-road sector Massimo Ghirotto. I am where I have dreamed of being for some years”. It happens to Fausto Scotti.

Yet after he quit racing in 2005 he had moved away from cycling, right?

“Yup. The phone no longer rang, the promises received by many had not materialized. I found myself lost. I went to work for Aspiag, took care of supermarket newsstands and the stationery office. With my wife Luisa, the engine of my triumphs as an athlete and my rebirth ».

Then?

«In 2009 the spark, the holiday home on Monte Prat, the youth camps for off-road vehicles. That mountain still has enormous potential and I hope the municipal administration continues to invest. Then the Trentino cross and my DP66, two teams forge talents capable of winning 5 Italian championships for teams out of six and tricolors like those of Sara Casasola and Bryan Olivo or 10 pink jerseys at the Giro d’Italia of cross.

Now, with the new position, the team will be managed by Achille Santin technical guide in my place with president Michele Bevilacqua. I will also leave the technical guide of the regional Comitaao, but with the president Stefano Bandolin we have done a great job ».

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Aims?

“Simple: we cannot think of returning to compete immediately with giants of the specialty such as Belgium and Holland, who can field champions such as Van Aert and Van der Poel, but we must build a project that will lead us within the next 5-6 years to compete with everyone, to compete at least for the podium.

Our movement has lived on the talent of the mayors, there was the era of Longo, then Di Tano, then myself with Bramati, then Franzoi. We must raise the level of the entire movement, which has a region of excellence and reference in Friuli, starting with young people. And in this regard, the debut of a new competition such as the European Under 16 Championship is good news “

The first world championship as a coach?

“The last week of January 2022 in the US in Arkansas, I’m already thrilled with the idea.”

A bit like when he was preparing to run north in front of the raving crowd?

“Sure. Competing there is like entering San Siro after having seen a first-class match. It is possible to reach those levels because, with the increasingly dangerous roads, the cross, even with the explosion of the gravel phenomenon, will be increasingly fashionable. And we hope it will also make its debut at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina 2026: it would be wonderful. How to organize a World Cup in Friuli, but our friend Enzo Cainero has to think about it ». With the city in the house now one more reason to do them.

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