It was a new debut yesterday at the Giro d'Onore for Elia Viviani, the Prophet and symbol of the Italian track's renaissance, who is now the team manager of the Road and Track National Teams. At 36, the Veronese Olympian opens an intriguing phase of his career: "Yes, a great adventure begins. We start looking towards the future, but the future is already now because I've just gotten off the bike and immediately thrown myself into this new challenge".

How have you been moving in these weeks?
"I've already started talking with the coaches, we already have objectives in the upcoming races because the Europeans are practically just around the corner. The beautiful thing is that I definitely like this adventure, I want to continue giving what I have with my experience. Help young athletes and coaches reach the maximum result. I can't wait".

The Olympic qualification criteria have just been officially announced: what do you think?
"They are certainly different. We must work on the omnium, where we have an experienced athlete like Simone Consonni and young talents growing like Juan David Sierra who can contribute. We start from the World Championship in Shanghai and then go to the Europeans, World Cups. There are still a few months to think, but then we must put our foot on the accelerator because October flies by and we want to be absolutely ready and lay a first significant stone for Olympic qualification. For the road, we'll need to be more attentive to the ranking compared to the last Olympics and ensure we have the maximum number of athletes, which is five for top nations".

Let's rewind for a moment and go back to yesterday's celebration: did a little tear escape you with that video of your achievements and life?
"It touched me, yes, it was like celebrating my career: seeing where I started is always emotional. I was almost embarrassed, but it's nice to see little Elia who was still dreaming of professional cycling and then see how he closed with those World Championship images. Yes, it was an emotional day for everyone".