Having revealed several weeks ago that he hasn’t had sex in months, Italian team leader Filippo Pozzato has clarified the situation, saying that his abstinence wasn’t a deliberate tactic to prepare for the worlds. “I am in favour of sex before competitions,” he stressed, in an interview given to the Diva e Donna magazine. “You can do just fine [with that]. But for months I have been alone.”
Pozzato hasn’t had that particular type of exercise since May, when he broke up with his girlfriend Chiara. He appears to still be sensitive about that subject, referencing her when asked what his ideal woman was. “My idea? Beautiful, intelligent, classy,” he answered. “Like Chiara, the one I had.”
Abstaining was originally perceived as being a sign that he was ultra-determined about being in top shape for the worlds. In decades past, many involved in cycling believed that sex was deleterious to sporting performance and that riders should hold back in the days or even weeks before a major event. That belief is less prevalent now, and Pozzato’s clarification will help to restore his now-battered image as one of the top playboys in the bunch.
Even if his time away from the horizontal samba has not been a deliberate one, he said that he has been fully focussed on this Sunday’s race for a long, long time. “Since the beginning of this season I have worked for this world championships,” he said. “As soon as we saw the circuit, with the coach Paolo Bettini, we understood that it was suitable for me.”
He believes he is in with a good chance, and dismisses any talk that Italian cycling is going through a bit of a slump. “With Basso at the Giro and Nibali at the Vuelta, Italy won two of the three great classical stage races,” he stated. “That’s despite those who say that Italian cycling is in crisis, and is no longer what it was.”
His goal will be to provide further weight to the notion that his country is still a major power in the sport. Italians have won four out of the last eight Elite worlds; making it five from nine is his goal. If he manages to do that, he will become a hero back home. He might even get lucky as a result.