This winter we told you the story and especially the passion for the track and the Six Days of twenty-year-old Alessio Salvadeo, who this season continues his journey around Italy and Europe, combining track events (largely at his own and dad Roberto's expense, bikes included) with the canonical Under 23 road activity with Trentino Cycling Team.

This weekend Alessio wanted to entrust us with a short story and his emotions regarding an intense week spent in Brno, in the world's oldest existing velodrome: it was built in 1889, when the Czech Republic was yet to come and that was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in the late 1960s it reached its current length of 400 meters.

In May (13-14-15-17-18-19, rest on Friday 16) while major attention was focused on the Giro d'Italia, Salvadeo was one of the 70 riders who undertook a series of three competitions in this ancient Czech outdoor velodrome. Absolute participation record!

«When we were all on the track simultaneously, in single file we practically occupied half the track! In the first three days, the 500+1 took place, truly unique in the world: it's called that because several point races are held until reaching a total of 500 laps... plus one supplementary, the 501st with double-point sprint. It was a continuous series of attacks and chases, reabsorptions and gained laps, extremely high rhythms whipped by cold and wind, and the perception that for athletes from specific nationalities, like the Czech hosts and Poles, the results in this event had a significant and particular value...» Alessio tells us enthusiastically.

«We traveled by car, from the province of Venice and back, with colleague Francesca Selva and my dad. Fortunately, she took care of bringing plenty of rice! In those days of "satisfying blender" between continuous races and few hours of sleep, faced together with her and the Danish riders Oskar Winkler (Francesca's boyfriend) and Noah Wulff, we perfectly divided tasks both on the track, where a minimum team play is normal when competing with many more numerous National teams, which is also the beauty of these races, and in everyday life: who cooks, who washes, who shops, who goes to technical meetings, who improvises as a mechanic... In the end, the German Moritz Augenstein won with a spectacular performance, but we were all happy to have truly given our maximum: moreover, I was one of only 3 athletes to have completed the entire week's program, which after the continuous point races of 500+1 continued with madison, scratch and omnium of GP Brno CL1 and GP Austria. Francesca Selva did the same for the women's program.»

Who are the other two "workaholics" of the Brno week? One is the already mentioned Winkler, the other is Hungarian Bertold Drijver. «With Drijver I'll compete in the Six Days of Fiorenzuola, while previously I'll participate in the Six Days of Pordenone together with the Dutchman Max De Lincel, whom I met last winter when I briefly lived in the Netherlands. An experience I aim to repeat for 2-3 months at the end of this year.»

And the programs after Pordenone and Fiorenzuola? «In August, a two-week trip to Slovakia awaits me for a series of races in the Presov velodrome».

Meanwhile, however, the enthusiasm for the Brno experience is still alive a month later: «Beyond the results, the goal was to complete this "endless" program and we made it. It was an opportunity to test myself and to honor our commitment and the work of the excellent organizers. I can't wait to return in 2026!»

And we'll continue to open a window on the activity of this young man in love with velodromes and Six Days, one of the "last romantics" of track cycling.