Fortunato: “On the Teide volcano, to return to win.”
The volcano is a presence that simultaneously threatens and reassures. Imposing, contrasting with the blue sea, Teide seems to stand there guarding the dreams of those who visit it to build and imagine a season that is one of victories and smiles.
What makes it all more magical is the silence, the silence of the early morning hours when the streets are empty and the tourists have yet to ascend. “And those are my favorite moments,” says Lorenzo Fortunato, who along with teammates Gavazzi and Pietrobon is undergoing a period of training in the highlands. “In the morning,” Lorenzo continues, “before having breakfast I go for a walk alone: there is no one there, there is a wonderful silence that makes you be at peace. It is beautiful, in the morning the volcano is often whitewashed with snow but after a few hours the sun melts it and the further you go down toward the sea the higher the temperature rises. Down below it is already very hot….”
The days continue and they are days of hard work: “After my morning walk and breakfast, it’s out on the bike: four, five, six hours of training. Then massages with Carmine, dinner, and early to bed. We are training well, I’m sure this period of work will be very useful later on. When we will run.” For Fortunato, this is the first time on Teide: “I had never been there, but Alberto and Ivan told me so much about it that I practically knew it already. And then there is an anecdote related to Carmine: the first time he gave me a massage, I had only arrived a few days before, he promised me that one day I would go with him to Teide. There, let’s say the promise was kept.”
A couple more days in the highlands and then, it’s off to racing: “Andalucia, then Gran Camino. And then off to the Italian calendar: Laigueglia, Tirreno-Adriatico. With a fixed goal called Giro d’Italia. I want to go strong right away, and I want to try to win right away: last year things didn’t go well and I had some bad luck, now I want to come back and win.”
Upcoming races of Lorenzo Fortunato:
?? Vuelta a Andalucía
?? O Gran Camiño
?? Laigueglia Trophy
?? Tirreno Adriatico
?? Giro d’Italia
