Maurizio Fondriest was the World Champion in the road race in '88, in '93 he won Milan-Sanremo and Flèche Wallonne. Today, at 60 years old, he continues to pedal like before. In spirit, at least, if not with the same legs.

What does the bicycle represent for you, Fondriest?

"Freedom. I have never stopped cycling, I'm as enthusiastic as the first day, perhaps because it gives you the opportunity to pedal with people of all ages, as I just finished doing on the last trip organized this year with Gazzetta: a week in Sicily, from Palermo to Etna. These are trips we usually do with people from 40 to 60 years old, sometimes even older, who come from all over the world to cycle together and visit places they've never seen. Isn't that what cycling can offer compared to other sports? Last year we crossed Andalusia, previously Santiago de Compostela, once we started from Pamplona, another time from Lisbon. For me, it's an opportunity to rediscover places I had already seen, but as a racer; and when you race, your mind is focused only on the competition, you don't even notice what's around you. And when I no longer have the strength to cycle like today, I'll help myself with electric assistance, as my wife and many of the people traveling with us already do. Because that's the beauty of it: we share a passion, each according to their own abilities."

In everyday life, you are a talent scout constantly looking for young talents to launch into professional cycling: why doesn't our movement have another Pantani, another Nibali?

"There are several reasons, at least three. One: no one can know when and where talent is born. Sinner is from South Tyrol: what tennis tradition does South Tyrol have? None. And then? Evenepoel is a phenomenon who came from football. But then, isn't Ganna a super talent in time trials? Isn't Milan destined to become one of the strongest sprinters in the world? So, let's put it better: what's missing are champions for classics and stage races, a climber. But they will come. I don't know when, but they will come because we have strong juniors. Even among those I directly follow. Two: not only the cycling federation, but also the government must work well, better than it does today, in sports, and I'm talking about sports in general. If you get 100 kids or 1,000 or 10,000 to do sports, the percentage of those who could become good or excellent riders changes. The first, great work must be done in schools, where hours dedicated to sports must increase. It's also a social problem: if kids do sports, they don't have time for nonsense. Three: in other countries, many sons of cyclists compete, here it's not like that. There's no other Saronni, no other Moser, or Argentin, or Fondriest. My daughter started at 23 after artistic skating: too late to think about a career."

But can we be optimistic?

"If we start working well now, we'll see results in 5-7 years. We don't have World Tour teams? We wouldn't have solved all problems, but it's true that by having them, we would allow more young riders to turn professional. Right now in Italy, we have good riders who struggle to find a team, even abroad. A rider on a World Tour team earns 200,000 euros a month: it's clear that French teams, for example, will take their compatriots and not Italians."