Guazzini and Consonni bronze: bronze in the American at the World Championships in Chile

On the world podium, once again. Bronze in the Americana, the very specialty of the track that had seen them gold just over a year ago in Paris 2024. Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini are a guarantee, a cashier’s check who pedals hard, very hard. At the World Championships in Santiago de Chile they had already contributed to the team pursuit world title, the second for both, three years later. This time they reformed the couple who sang Mameli’s anthem at the top of their lungs at the French velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, after becoming the perfect image of one of the twelve gold medals of the Italian expedition. Theirs is a bronze which is valid in a very hard-fought race with many falls and twists, see the withdrawal of the Netherlands when they were in the lead. Gold to Great Britain, with 30 points. Silver to France, 24, and our girls third with 20.

couple

—

Chiara – who also crashed yesterday, but is very ready to get back on the bike – and Vittoria complement each other perfectly, and to think that in Paris they took to the track together also because Elisa Balsamo had not arrived at her best at that appointment, due to a previous injury. Consonni knows how to make you smile even in the most difficult moments, yet as soon as she gets on the saddle she displays a ferocious determination: she is the sister of Simone, Milan’s fish-rider on the road and an Olympian on the track with 3 five-hoop medals already in the living room. Guazzini is the component of healthy madness that cannot and must not be missing, she herself has defined herself as “Guazza the crazy one”. Martina Fidanza also recently remembered this, together with them in the quartet who had to chew bitterly with fourth place in Paris, but who can dream big in Los Angeles 2028. What would you like to have of the other that you don’t have, we asked both of us. Vittoria: “I envy her for the way she deals with things. Unlike me, who racks my brain, she manages to experience everything more lightly, in a positive sense. She understands the weight of situations, and how to deal with them.” Chiara: “When you put your mind to it, determination. And your head. If you set a goal, you give your soul. In cycling, and not just in cycling.”

point

—

This year, at the European Championship in Belgium in February, they were silver. Theirs had been an attacking race, very courageous, remaining in the running for the continental title until just before the last sprint, when however the Dutch Van Belle and Van der Duin – defeated at the Games – had made the difference. At the World Championships in Denmark last year, immediately after the Olympics, they had instead finished in fifth place: all you need to do is notice that they are now firmly among the best, despite two of them not being over fifty.

rules

—

The Americana is also called Madison because it was held at Madison Square Garden in New York, one of the temples of track cycling in 1900. It can be considered a points race in which the teams are pairs who take turns every two laps, for 30 kilometers (120 laps). Every 10 laps there is a sprint which awards points to the first four: 5, 3, 2, 1 points. The twelfth and final sprint has double scores. If a couple gains a lap on the others (i.e. they attack, go on the run and catch up with the main group), they earn 20 points: it is precisely in this way that the Italians won gold in Paris, consecrating themselves. Every American has a different story, as we have just seen in Chile too: Chiara&Vittoria know, in any case, how to write good endings.