By Sophie
HAPPY NEW YEAR
For the eternal rookie in us who doesn't want to grow, but to fly; for all the Peter Pans and Cinderellas we carry inside us: the image we save from this 2020 is the victory in the Rosti jersey at the Tour de France, because Rosti is to the World Tour as David is to Goliath, and in crucial moments the world is saved by the kids who challenge the giants with a slingshot.
This victory was for all of us, for all those who have the bike in their heart, and have worked hard day after day, facing all the uphill climbs without giving up.
For all the invisible Supermans and Superwomen who perform in everyday life those thousand miracles that seem banal. For the friends of always who on Saturdays do their mountain grand prix and arriving at the pass find snow, and the ability to be amazed.
For the spotless and fearless - and sometimes a little pale - knight in us, who on dark days gets on his bike and begins to climb the hills until he meets a ray of sunshine above the blanket of fog.
But also for the expert tracker Willy the coyote that is in us, and for his uncle, the accountant Fantozzi, who this year has seen more than usual, and has filled the diary with souvenir photos, each with its own title:
“When an SUV comes out of your path around a bend”
“When a manhole wants to take you to the grave”
“When you jump on an anti-personnel canteen”
“When you go crazy putting on the cape”
“When you think you've won and you celebrate too soon”
“When they come at you to film you up close”
“When you're doing great and you fly over the bridge”
“When the crazy barriers turn against you”
Let's take the good from this unthinkable 2020, for all of us, and especially for the girls and boys of the third millennium, raised in a world where technological control is everything and human will is nothing.
Let's take the clean face and clear words of Filippo Ganna, a champion born and raised in the Rosti tribe, capable of winning the time trial by a landslide despite having his radio connection out of order.
“How did you do it?” they ask him.
And he:
“I kept telling myself what my coach once told me: start strong, step up in the middle, and give it your all in the end.”