Riccò. Him, Silvano, from Vignola, born in 1959, not the other one, Riccardo, from Sassuolo, born in 1983, 14 years and 25 kilometers apart. Silvano Riccò, professional from 1982 to 1987, two victories and a hundred placements, and a third place at Milano-Sanremo, that of 1985, which still tastes of glory and regret, of honor and remorse, of pride and disappointment. At the Giro d'Italia he collected memories and stories.

Silvano, what was your most unfortunate stage?

"Giro d'Italia of 1984, the Bologna-Numana stage, 238 kilometers, Laurent Fignon in the pink jersey. I knew the finish. If I could slip into the last curve - I repeated to myself like a mantra - if I don't win, at least I'll place. Be careful at the finish - I explained to my teammates - there's an S-curve, it's dangerous, you can fall. Last kilometer, compact group, me in front, Roger De Vlaeminck beside me, the famous curve, I tried to move De Vlaeminck, as if it were possible, as if it were easy, as if it were simple, it would have taken a tractor, in fact it was he who moved me. Anyway, in the circumstance, I was a good prophet: a fall. Who fell? Me."

The most grueling stage?

"Giro d'Italia of 1983, the Selva di Val Gardena-Arabba, 169 kilometers and five hills, Campolongo Pordoi Sella Gardena and again Campolongo, won by Alessandro Paganessi, Beppe Saronni in the pink jersey. At the beginning I fought hard, soon ran out of fuel, slid into the small group, and if Massimo Ghirotto hadn't pushed me, and perhaps someone else - we were on good terms even if we raced in different teams - I would never have arrived. For others it was day, for me it was pitch black."

The most controversial stage?

"Giro d'Italia of 1983, the Terni-Vasto, 269 kilometers, ready, go, full throttle. Bruno Reverberi had ordered us: warm up and attack. He wanted to race. It was a battle and fluttering. Us from Termolan in front, including Saronni and Visentini, the others chasing. When the group caught us, they told us off in every language. Because those were stages and years when war was made only in the last 50 kilometers or when the TV helicopter started flying above us."

The most dramatic stage?

"Not at the Giro d'Italia. It was 1979. We were racing in Sicily. At a level crossing, Freddy Maertens fell. The only one to notice was Carletto Menicagli, sports director of another team. He stopped, reached him, was quick to pull out his tongue otherwise Freddy would have died suffocated, saved his life. The following year Maertens would race for San Giacomo, Menicagli's team. And every time he would come to Italy, Freddy would always stop by Carletto's house."

These were the years of Moser and Saronni.

"The sheriffs, much more Moser than Saronni, if Saronni promoted a protest, Moser would go straight ahead. They commanded in the race, they commanded in the sprint too. There were three trains: their two and Guido Bontempi's. We others had to manage, infiltrating, sneaking, hiding. Alone. I could count on the help of my teammate and roommate Giuseppe Montella, cousin of Vincenzo the footballer. When I moved to Atala, I entered the train for Pierino Gavazzi. But it wasn't my calling. The tactic was always the same, yet every evening Franco Cribiori - zero dialogue - would give the tactical lesson on the next day's stage, and the conclusion never changed, it didn't provide anything other than bringing Pierino to the sprint."

If you had won at Sanremo?

"My life would have changed. I had baptized it, I had declared it, I attacked at Arma di Taggia, I crested the Poggio with the Dutchman Van der Vliet, downhill we were caught by another Dutchman, Kuiper, his teammate, I hadn't even seen him, he had hidden behind a car, and when Kuiper attacked two or three kilometers from the finish, I had no more legs to respond."

Instead, you won the Giro della provincia di Reggio Calabria.

"A week later. Palmiro Masciarelli was alone in the last kilometer. I chased him, caught him, passed him 10 meters from the finish line. He was very upset."

Silvano, you stopped early, at 28. Why?

"I was sorry but I was forced: to race I wanted to be paid and not have to pay. So I opened a hardware store. My second life."

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Ernesto Colnago