David Lappartient is worried, the world cycling leader. He is as concerned as we are and as those who are called to find increasingly demanding resources to form teams that are increasingly becoming companies. So much so that companies are hardly seen anymore, and those that exist show very short breath. Multinational corporations, sovereign funds, nations investing directly are needed: the scenario is no longer the same as a few years ago, and Lappartient's surprise surprises me.

It's clear that we've arrived here after a long journey, made with other presidents, other stakeholders, other riders and presidents, but in recent years the acceleration has been evident, and the numbers tell us this, not opinions.

The president is worried about the riders: he sees them sad, stressed. He spoke about safety, speed, and radio earpieces, clearly current issues, but I don't believe they are the basis of stress. That comes from the pressures of an endless season, a crazy calendar, increasingly demanding races for spectacle needs and a regulation not made by me, which dispenses points in bunches and investments from increasingly important teams that lead to a global and generalized stress. Not only are the riders on the grill, but also all staff, from mechanics to nutritionists, from medical staff to sports directors and so on.

Today there are no more training races, today one always races to the death, without pauses. Far from my time... In those days, except for the monument classics, one raced to the death only in the finale. Today, also due to full live broadcasts of all races, one goes full speed from kilometer zero. The averages are there to testify: one goes faster and continuously. Without stopping. In search of these damned points that condition 95% of the races.

There is exasperation: and how could there not be if a top-tier team costs an average of 25 million euros. For these sums, they demand results, but sport is not made with ifs and buts, not with mental coaches - however important - but with good riders, of which there are few. You can say it's a matter of head, will, heart, and moments, but then you find yourself with Pogacar and Evenepoel, Van der Poel and Pedersen, Vingegaard Van Aert and Isaac Del Toro between the pedals, and words dissolve in the time of an attack.

The riders are sad and stressed, but the societies and team leaders investing and managing mind-boggling figures to win five races a year are not very happy either. I'll be repetitive, president, but I believe the cycling model, calendar, point allocation, and rankings need to be urgently revised. I also hope for a reduction in top teams, to give oxygen to the "middle class" of cycling that is becoming impoverished. Let's give the opportunity to return to a sustainable activity of 5/10/15 million euros per season. With these figures, sponsors would also factor in gathering few results, being content with the image return that cycling still manages to guarantee. But if we want investments to be three times higher, dear president, stress is part of the game, and beyond the lifeless eyes and tight smiles of riders, those of investors who are thinking of removing themselves should also be looked at.