BUJA. Ten and zero two, now Italian Olympic. In Tokyo, to be precise at the Izu velodrome, the blue quartet of the pursuit in qualifying takes to the track. Objective: to go fast, very strong and land in the first round of tomorrow with the dreams of a medal intact, albeit a valuable one.
For everyone it is the quartet of that phenomenon called Filippo Ganna and Simone Consonni, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan.
For Friuli, and in particular in Buja, it is simply the Milan quartet. The youngest, twenty years of power is thought to be mostly still unexplored. The track is very fast, air conditioning and low atmospheric pressure will make the quartets fly with bikes, accessories and clothing built with aerospace technology. Coach Marco Villa will give confidence to the “Frecciarossa” protagonists of the bronze medal at the 2000 World Cup in Berlin, the one in which baby-Milan was surprisingly inserted after the first round and then shattered the Italian record with 3’46 ”353. In four kilometers. Because the goal is to chase the opposing team on the track for four kilometers. At over sixty per hour. After the World Cup, Covid arrived. From that day on, no comparisons or competitions to study rivals. Australia and Denmark, the gold of Berlin, on the track in Tokyo these days have been “spied” to race in crazy times of 3’40 “. Don’t worry, Ganna, four golds in the individual pursuit and, after Covid, a time trial road World Championship seasoned by seven stages in the Giro is a guarantee.
And then there is Jonny, the protégé of “Pippo”, as the champion of Ineos himself confirmed to us last October.
We went to the Milan house in Buja to introduce you to the Friulian jet-boy. We came out with a certainty: three quarters of the successes of an athlete come from the families in which they grew up. The stories from Tokyo these days prove it, even yesterday’s Olympic ones.
Before Milan, which is the “Creazioni Tessili” family business on the road to Santo Stefano, there is Buja. The country of cyclists: Alessandro De Marchi, pink jersey at the Giro and Rio 2016 with Italbici, Asia Zontone, who has just completed the Giro women, two cycling teams that are a breeding ground of talents: the Bujese and the “Jam’s bike”, who stands for Jonathan, Asia and Matteo, the children of Flavio Milan, former phenomenon among the amateurs and father of our Jonny and Matteo, and Marco Zontone, now president of Bujese. An intertwining of … cycling.
Buja trembles, is anxious, anxious. Two huge greats on the Osovana roundabout and in front of the cathedral and the Town Hall cheer on Jonny, that polite boy who greets everyone when he passes into the village going out in training and who, in the end we will understand why, no one can follow. Mayor Stefano Bergagna also gave the boy a Friuli flag to take to Japan. Then the Milan home, a den of fabrics, colored curtains, hardworking employees. A mother, heart of a mother, proud a lot but already in full fibrillation, who awaits us. «Jonny called us yesterday – he explains – for the first time a video call, it was my birthday. He’s fine, he’s concentrated », explains Elena, a teacher for twenty years in Udine and then catapulted into the company and family. Check Matteo, 16, rides a bike (and well) in the Danieli Team among the juniors. “I dream of running among the pros with my brother, maybe one day at the Olympics,” he explains. It’s a photocopy of Jonny, with a few centimeters less. «Quiet – check out father Flavio, who with Caneva among amateurs between the 80s and 90s made people like Simoni and Pantani suffer – Jonathan was even shorter. Up to 16 he was the smallest in the team photos, you had a hard time finding him, then … Now he is 1.94 tall and weighs 84 kg ». The “little brother” points out: “Even if we love each other, you have time to steal my clothes because we have the same measurements: yes, we can also fight over the exchanged clothes”.
Elena “teacher” intervenes. Speak and dispense pride. With your feet firmly planted on the ground, like all Friulians. “We are experiencing a surreal atmosphere these days, I think the Olympics are a dream for Jonny, he already runs among the pros in Bahrain Victoriuus at twenty, the dream of a runner, he has already won medals at the World and European Championships, jerseys tricolors, but the Games … only 20 years old ».
And then, carefully note: «For him, this is a further path of growth that began when he was a child in the family. He is very attached to the family. Step by step we have arrived at this in our “family-team” ». And now? «Holidays, two weeks, the company closes“ for the Olympics ”, employees warned as soon as Jonathan has received the call. Anyway they will all be in front of the TV to see it because here we are a family. We will go, hopefully until the finals on Wednesday at lunchtime, to see the Ursinins Grande races, our village ». The bar da Ugo will become a Milan cycling club.
And there will be many. Because everyone in the village has followed the parable of that little boy put on a bike by dad and who slowly began to accelerate. “It was 2018 – father Flavio remembers – he was racing for Sacilese, a team that prepared him well and pampered him for three years as Team Friuli did, and as a junior he beat a blue as a Team Fridge at the regional time trial championships. Danieli. There then … ». Think: the jet boy of Ganna’s Freciarossa and the former amateur star, with the (vanished) dream of Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 and only one year, due to physical trouble, pro to Love & Life, they will often go by bike … Instead: “Impossible – explains dad Flavio – two weeks ago I tried, it starts and goes at 45 at a fixed time”. Matteo nods, it happens to him too. Often. The maternal grandmother Marcella arrives: «Come on Jonny, he always has a thought for his grandparents, I already cheer for him». Run Milan run. At nearly seventy per hour chasing a dream.
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