The appointment is in the square in Tarcento at 9:45 am, he arrives from Muris di Ragogna by bike, we arrive from the south and at Primulacco we get a WhatsApp with his location: between Buja and Majano. Time to speed up. We arrive just before him.

"I never use these gadgets, but with my guys the WhatsApp location is important when they're training".

Daniele Pontoni, king of world cyclocross, two world championship jerseys, fifth in mountain bike at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 317 races won in his career from 1989 to 2005, technical commissioner of Italy's cyclocross and gravel team for five years, turns 60 on Tuesday, September 8th. Doing an interview while pedaling with him on the road to Chialminis-Cornappo valley is very dangerous: he still goes strong.

"No, no, look I don't even have an updated computer", he attacks on the climb towards Sedilis, "my guys gave me this one when I turned 50".

His guys?
"Yes, I don't have children, but the national team guys and before that the DP66, the cyclocross team I founded with my wife Luisa, or the fifty or so who have been participating in my camp on the Monte Prat plateau for almost twenty years are my guys".

How have young people changed?
"Radically, but working with them is thrilling. I won two world championships and plenty of international races, but the greatest satisfactions I've had came from helping these guys win in the Italian jersey. We need to get closer to them, talking about cycling, they're more absorbed by the Garmin (the bike computer on the handlebars, editor's note) or the smartphone rather than real things, but there are some exceptions, I think of one of my strongest guys Mattia Agostinacchio, who races by feel, a bit like I did—I went strong and often beat others also because I prepared races meticulously and loved surprising my rivals".

Don't they know how to race anymore?
"Well, at the last Giro del Friuli Under 23, my friend Dario Cioni from Netcompany had come to support his Devo team riders: at one point he got angry because one of his guys wasn't attacking. The rider confessed to him: the Garmin hadn't updated. And then the most exciting races among the pros now are those where riders are without radios".

Has training changed?
"Radically. Now the guys have nutrition, science, materials, everything better than when I raced, but they need to rediscover the desire to improvise, to dare".

Chialminis climb, we go in pairs, a car comes down, it could pass easily. It does but the driver yells: "You f...ing".
"Look, some time ago I would have gotten angry, now I let it go. I raced for years in the North, I go there often with the National team, we can forget about bike culture in those parts and you see the results on the roads".

Bike paths?
"You need to educate people to use them, in our area they're a free-for-all, everyone goes there for walks, with dogs, with kids, in the North it's not like that. In Belgium at the World Championships a few years ago I saw hundreds of kids going to school by bike in the morning, even doing 10 km, it's easy then that someone becomes a cyclist".

Parents don't send their kids to race because the roads are a trap.
"We need to build a road culture from the youngest".

Good thing there's off-road.
"Where you can form good-level riders also for road racing. Intensity rather than distance: haven't pro races basically become a long cyclocross race from the first kilometer?".

If I mention Mathieu Van der Poel to you?
"He's the example of a 360-degree cyclist, champion on road, in mtb and in cyclocross. There are many others, I think of Van Aert or Pidcock, let's hope some come from us too, but in the meantime we'd need confidence in our talents and an Italian team that lets them race".

You raced with Vdp's father.
"Yes, how many battles with Adri in the mud".

A challenge between you and Mathieu?
"Different generations, let's leave it at that"

Over the Chialminis climb, we think we can catch our breath, he goes like a motorcycle. He never drinks, weighs 60 kg, only two more than when he was a pro, never drinks. Obviously he's wearing the national team jersey.

How many km do you do on the bike per year?
"I don't know, I pedal when I can. I don't use the computer, I navigate by church bells, I love gravel bike paths, there are some beautiful ones, little known because they're not well publicized in the Lower Friuli. Yes: I like the bike more at 60 than when I was a kid".

How did it start with the bike?
"In goal, I was a goalkeeper for Basiliano despite my height. I also won the Barassi Trophy, the current Regional Tournament, with the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Youngsters, I think it was 1981. I still go crazy for football, Torino fan, I like going to the stadium especially in the evening. I'm nostalgic for Pulici-Graziani (and he rattles off the 1976 Italian champion team lineup, editor's note). I alternated with the bike, I went strong then as a junior I stopped. I studied hospitality, went to do seasons in Milano Marittima. I could have done military service in the Athletes Company instead I found myself an alpine in the Julia".

A wasted year?
"Not at all, it was my luck. I learned order and discipline, what I try to teach my guys now. If I see them arrive with dirty shoes or a helmet not in order I get angry. Then I worked for Brando in Udine in Piazzale Cella and out of stubbornness I went back to racing".

Out of stubbornness?
"Yes, that typical of Friulians. One evening the heads of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Cycling Federation come to dinner, they see me, they propose I participate in courses as a race judge, I answer that if I come back to cycling I do it to win. And the next day I go to Ireneo Paravano, the president of Varianese and ask if I can race. Massimo, his son who has now taken over, is an inseparable friend for me".

The turning point?
"In 1988, Egidio Fior signs me to Zalf who didn't seem very convinced: 600 thousand lire a month. I start winning and earn my call-up to the first World Championship in France in 1989, I'm up there with the best, I understand I can beat Simunek the strongest. In 1992 I win the World Championship in Leeds, in Belgium at every race they pay me even a million and 500 thousand lire, the equivalent of my father Angelo's monthly salary, still my first fan along with mom Alina, as a nurse".

The national anthem?
"Gives me chills, but in Monaco, when in 1997 I did it again with another race always in the lead, it was even more beautiful with hundreds of Friulians present, including Enzo Cainero, someone who always helped me in important decisions".

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics?
"Fifth, my chain broke, my friend Paola Pezzo, also with her cleavage (he laughs, editor's note), did better than me with gold, and Kevin, my son has his own head and in cyclocross he's giving me great satisfaction".

Nimis, before we say goodbye it's time for a cold drink. Finally he drinks too: sparkling water with elderflower.

Can we be calm about doping?
"It was my enemy, in my time I had a natural hematocrit of 48 yet others flew...Now the culture has changed among managers and riders too. Yes, we can be calm".

Goals at 60?
"I won the World Championship as ct with Stefano Viezzi, great talent like Sara Casasola and Giorgia Pellizotti, daughter of a cyclist who will have a career, I dream of the Mixed Relay, the relay that shows the strength of the movement. Before my 70s shall we do another real lap?".

With great pleasure.

from Messaggero Veneto