Adispro is the Italian association that brings together national cycling sports directors with the aim of protecting professional interests by encouraging initiatives useful to the category.  

It is led by Davide Goetz , a lawyer, who was unanimously re-elected president last November as well as the Governing Council made up of Mario Chiesa (secretary) and the councilors Luca Guercilena, Andrea Peschi, Flavio Miozzo, Bruno Cenghialta and Fabio Baldato.

Fantacycling interviewed Goetz to find out the state of health of Italian cycling seen by Adispro.

How did you become president of Adispro and approach the world of cycling?

"In the 80s I rode a bike as a good level amateur, with prizes and salaries I financed my subsequent university studies, I was already living alone. At the end of the 90s Leo Levati asked me to prepare the statute of the new Adispro (already in the existed in the 60s) and Beppe Martinelli became its president.Over the years we have realized that this is a delicate role, because if it is a question of taking political initiatives there is a concrete exposure to personal retaliation in the workplace: then it is better to rely on an independent subject, I am a lawyer and I live on something else".

What is your task within Adispro?

"I have taken on the political and trade union representation, I try to summarize the sentiment of the category and I carry forward the requests both first of all of those who sit in the flagship, but certainly in the general interest of the professional sector, because if the teams close they are no longer riders to direct and risk disappearing or in any case suffering from it, even the Italian sports directors who are unable to place themselves in the World Tour".

What are the main issues you will be dealing with in the new mandate that has just started?

"The most current and pressing theme is to really save and relaunch a Lega Professionisti capable of coalescing and catalysing the positive forces of professionalism on the road, or what is left of it. The closure of the Lega would be a further traumatic and very serious fact, the last point of reference we have left would be lost. The organizers must understand that this is their home, the place in which to discuss problems and common projects, not a counterpart".

Italian cycling is in difficulty in terms of numbers and budgets, who is to blame?

"Cycling in Italy today has become almost impossible, bureaucracy and costs put us out of the market. Working on bureaucracy, costs and serious economic support for the youth sector is possible, the trend would be reversed and growth would start again, but we must want it and start working. The League has been delegitimized for years and is now a police station, so it seems to me that the only entity to look to to identify someone responsible for this decline can only be the Italian Cycling Federation".

How present is the so-called sports policy in cycling. And if so, how much does the pedal world suffer?

"The question is badly asked, because it assumes that politics brings with it a negativity, it is the symptom of the collapse of trust that the representations have in Italy, I myself as a citizen am very discouraged. As in all sectors of the country, even in the sport, a neo-democratic cultural revolution is needed which brings back to the center a sporting policy based on ethics and a true sense of responsibility".

How many sports/technical directors does the association represent today?

"About a hundred, many of whom are excellent at an international level, masters of this profession who carry on a real Italian school".

Italian cycling is not going through a good moment but the work of Italian sports directors is always highly appreciated, even abroad. Where do you think this attitude comes from?

"Unfortunately it is the legacy of a dead world, of an Italian cycling movement that no longer exists but which only ten, fifteen years ago was first in the world without discussion and from all points of view, in terms of numbers and quality. At international level, we only have my DS, Giro d'Italia, Sanremo and Lombardia.Unfortunately, at the moment we don't have truly competitive and representative riders as a country like Italy deserves, I feel like making just one exception by quoting Ganna , but I explained myself".

How do you see the future of the cycling system at an international level?

"If by future we mean 2023, I only see women, to whom we wanted to offer support in the League and to whom, instead, we must cling and ask for help".

From what bases should the relaunch of Italian cycling start?

"From a different Federation that puts a larger part of its 80 employees and certainly not small economic resources at the disposal of competitive road cycling, from beginners to professionals, supporting companies and organizers with clear protocols with the prefectures that make feasible the races, giving new legitimacy and resources to a League to be relaunched with a clear project. It is necessary to rebuild an environment whose protagonists are once again admired and supported and not looked at with envy or even opposed. For elements such as Ivan Basso or Davide Cassani, to say, the red carpets must be rolled out and not complicate their lives".

LL

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