He spoke today, with a full-page interview in "La Repubblica". A back-and-forth with Cosimo Cito, during which the former Italian national team coach Daniele Bennati opened up, recounting his national team experience and the complicated recent period.

How did it go, Bennati?

"In November and then in December, the federal president Cordiano Dagnoni told me: 'If I'm confirmed, you will remain coach'. Confident of those words and the fact that the president had made identical statements to the press, I turned down job opportunities I had received". And shortly after he explains: "At the end of October, I received an important offer from Groupama-Fdj. But having received these reassurances from the Federation, there was no need to even discuss it".

Was it just a bad ending or was it a complicated relationship from the start?

"2024 was certainly the worst year. The Olympics and World Championships were very disappointing. But particular situations came together. One of the three at the start in Paris, Elia Viviani, raced well, but his participation was aimed at track cycling (editor's note: regulations allowed a maximum number of riders per Federation between track and road, Viviani was among the three road starters to allow Italy to use an additional track cyclist). A choice I ended up sharing, but I was not obliged to accept it".

The World Championship in Zurich was the worst in the history of the Italian National Team.

"In Zurich, I worked with perspective with riders like Ciccone and Tiberi. I had recommended to the guys, to whom I had indicated how to tackle a complicated race like the World Championship, to honor the blue jersey in the best possible way. It must be said that we encountered epochal phenomena in our path, from 2022 to 2024".

Full interview in print.