When Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) was beaten into second place in the sprint at last year's Giro del Veneto, the first person he encountered beyond the finish line on Padova's Prato della Valle was race organiser Filippo Pozzato. "Ma dai, are they paying you to finish in second or what?" Pozzato called out playfully.
Trentin could do little but grin and bear the gentle ribbing of his friend, which only amplified when he managed to crash out of the winning move while riding uphill at the inaugural Veneto Classic four days later. The Italian took that teasing on the chin for 12 months until he came back and won the Giro del Veneto on Wednesday, dispatching Rémy Rochas (Cofidis) and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) in the sprint in Vicenza.
"Finally, Pozzato cannot say I cannot win his races," Trentin smiled behind the podium. "He is only organising these races for a year, but you know that we chat together, and all the guys took the piss when I didn't win his race last year. I was second in one and I crashed in another, but now they have to shut up."
Trentin's victory here makes his life more bearable in at least one WhatsApp group and it also puts a different slant on what has been an ill-starred season. Although the Italian has now won three races in 2022, his campaign was blighted by misfortune. A heavy crash and delayed concussion at Paris-Nice ruined his Classics challenge, while a COVID-19 diagnosis denied him a start at the Tour de France.
"Every time I had great condition this year, I ran into problems," Trentin said. "Just after winning Le Samyn, I fell at Paris-Nice and I had quite significant cranial trauma, so all of the Classics went down the drain, really. I came back, trained, and got back for the Tour, but then I got Covid, so I had to go home. Fortunately, it didn't leave any after-effects, but it was my third time having to start from scratch this year."
Trentin confirmed his form with a stage win at the Tour of Luxembourg, but he came away frustrated by his fifth-place finish at the World Championships in Wollongong, having sprinted without realising there were still silver and bronze medals at stake. The final stanza of his season, meanwhile, brought its own problems. After taking fourth at the Coppa Bernocchi, he was afflicted by asthma at Gran Piemonte and, by his own admission, "without legs" at Paris-Tours.
"The condition has arrived finally, and I'm happy I won today because last week was a bit depressing, really," Trentin said when he took a seat in the press room in Vicenza's Palladio-designed Loggia del Capitaniato. "Last week, there were races where I came in feeling good, but I didn't bring anything home. Today I've done that, so I'm happy."
Mathieu van der Poel, a late addition to the start list, was the obvious dangerman on Wednesday afternoon, but Trentin's UAE Team Emirates squad effectively managed to eliminate him from contention with a bout of forcing midway through the 160km race. On the finishing circuit around Vicenza, meanwhile, Trentin tracked dangermen Miguel Ángel López (Astana-Qazaqstan) and Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) before unleashing a crisp sprint to win from the five-man group.
"They knew from kilometre 70 to 85, the road was narrow and technical, a bit like Flanders, so we said that the team would go flat-out and see what happened," said Trentin. "I had really good legs today and an exceptional teammate in Diego Ulissi. And that's it, I finally win."
Security
Trentin has been an articulate spokesperson for the peloton on issues of rider safety in recent seasons, both through official lobbying on behalf of the CPA membership and more informal – but no less thoughtful – engagement with media. The retirement of Philippe Gilbert at Paris-Tours has seen a fellow, vocal shop steward exit the peloton, but Trentin was less concerned with the loss of an important advocate than the inertia from those who could be taking action to improve safety, namely the UCI.
"Between us riders, we talk a lot. The problem is more about who is listening on the other side. Maybe they listen, but there's no action. It's political talk for now, we saw that at the CRO Tour," Trentin said.
"It's very difficult to organise a bike race. I know that, because I organise a small charity criterium in Monaco and in the space of four small streets, you come across a thousand dangers. But there are simple rules that unfortunately too many people don't respect, and nothing is done about it – and yet they'll disqualify you if you deviate a metre in a sprint.
"There should be more listening and more action from the UCI and from the commissaires in the races. We should be working together but instead, it seems like we're all working against one another – riders against the organisers, the organisers against the UCI, the UCI against the organisers and the riders."
Trentin is all too aware that the demands of host towns and television companies, not to mention the preponderance of traffic-calming measures in urban centres, complicates life enormously for course designers, but that does not excuse the lack of urgency in enforcing firm regulations for race organisers.
"I understand the difficulties of race organisers. But more precise rules are needed. When we have precise rules for everybody, then things will start to get better," Trentin said.
"A rule was introduced about wearing helmets and now nobody would even think about riding without a helmet. So, for instance, if we made it a rule that the finishing straight had to be at least 200m long, then every finishing straight would be at least 200m long and nobody would think about it anymore. But if they keep putting the finishing straight on a corner and nobody says anything about it, then it's normal that they'll keep doing whatever they want."
