Not just Calpe, not just Southern Spain. In the old and dear Riviera - considered in the extended notion from the Ligurian Ponente to Monaco - the professional cyclists' reference application's "heatmap" indicates a high rate of early-year training sessions.

Strava-ing, the flow shown on the maps is not really a novelty, made accessible to everyone and thus protecting us from voyeurism towards champions, or aspiring champions, who pedal. It's never good to observe someone working, almost like virtual umarell. Then, on the cycle path between Sanremo and Imperia, he overtakes you, the supreme Tadej, and relativizing is not so simple: a pleasant mix is generated between those who have set the bar with the panoramic café view as their maximum reference point and others who can only afford a quick coffee stop during an intense preparation session.

Pogacar also acted like number one by participating in the "Ride for Privi" a few days ago, demonstrating empathy and sensitivity during the emotional remembrance of Samuele Privitera. Among others, Alessandro Covi and Michael Matthews were present. The Monegasque colony has its structured routes, and it's absolutely natural to find the new homo of transalpine cycling, Kevin Vauquelin, pedaling alongside Victor Langellotti, who was born in the Principality, son of the Monegasque federal president, with whom he allows himself a classic stop at Café du Cycliste (where else?): for the record, the Ineos tandem shares the same roads where the Breton rider from Bayeux undertook a targeted work of almost 130 km in 4h 42' including a classic like the Col de la Madone.

On January 6th, Vauquelin, the day before in the company of Louis Barré, climbed above Menton continuing along the coast with Ewen Costiou, fresh from joining Groupama - Fdj United: another guy from the Ocean's shore (he's from Brest and Barré comes from Nantes), but for whom the Col d'Eze holds no secrets.

Forgive the local pride if we return to Italy: a permeable border, at least for cyclists, once again saw the passage of Giulio Ciccone, not only Pogacar. "It was nice to cross paths today and, being the gentleman you are, nice to see you greet... not everyone does that, not even among us 'ciaparat'" commented a recreational cyclist on January 4th, after spotting idol Cicco while heading towards Dolceacqua and beyond, during a 5-hour and 34-second training.

In the bicycle courtyard, you play with those who do things extremely seriously. Could the heatmap become similar to the application indicating air routes worldwide? Fortunately, in the algorithm of specific work, neither laughter with a training companion nor that part of performance monitoring entrusted to personal sensations converge or will converge. Hello, Pietro Solavaggione? The 2008 class from Val Varaita, part of the Bahrain youth system (Cannibal Victorius U19) and credited for a season as a major protagonist in the junior field, responds from Pietra Ligure, where he shares a residence room with Thomas Bernardi, a compatriot one year older and ready to debut among under-23s with Caja Rural Alea.

In the Ligurian Riviera, the two former Team Giorgi members also happened to encounter Pogacar: "At home, the thermometer went below zero, while here it's over ten degrees. We didn't hesitate to 'come down' with Thomas, on January 3rd, intending to spend at least twenty days in Liguria. Last year we were in Sardinia with the team, while here we're discovering valid routes only partially frequented during brief three-day training camps when we were still juniors".

The Piasco galaxy also represented in Liguria by Pietro Mattio, before making his way to Australia, where he begins his first, well-deserved World Tour year. The proximity to the province of Cuneo, combined with the mild climate compared to routes at the foot of snowy Alps (Bernardi lives in Sampeyre, altitude 1000), upon closer look, recalls a distant time when people from the Granda region went to seek fortune on the riviera. Cycling-wise, taking advantage of the Tenda tunnel's reopening, Sanremo and Menton have effectively become just around the corner. And then the Cuneo Millennials somehow revive the glory of Salvarani that used to hold its training camp in Laigueglia, right before the eponymous trophy that became an opening classic. These were the '60s, and trains still ran along the current cycle path above which Cipressa and Poggio are located. It's already been 11 years since the team time trial on the busy asphalt ribbon by the sea that kicked off the 2015 Giro d'Italia: that promotional seed has yielded an important harvest.