The Bergamo, twice winner of the Giro: “Never been a character, I prefer facts to words.
The day when Paolo Savoldelli became the hawk for everyone, descending from the fatter and the Madonna del Colletto who seemed to fly, five million people saw him in front of the TV. It was 1999, he arrived first in Borgo San Dalmazzo and Marco Pantani took the pink jersey. They were the opposite of the other: Pantani came from the sea and went strongly uphill, Savoldelli came from the mountain and descended from God. «Marco has always had the gift of the climb. I too had a natural quality: as a child when I went with my friends in Bmx I always arrived alone. I understood that it could be a weapon in my favor. There are many that go strong downhill, but they are often sprinters. Nibali also went down strong, but nobody knew how to overthrow the races like me ». Today Paolo is 51 years old, three daughters (Marika, Giulia and Eva) and manages the Baita Valle Azzurra in Valzurio with her partner, a hamlet of Oltresso Alta, 15 inhabitants, in the Seriana Valley. «I am at the box and help in the room. The first racing bike of when I was a child is hung on the wall. ” It is a strengthened Morotti because it had broken, mouse gray color. The color do the pink shirts.