Legendary Elia Viviani, in his last race wins gold at the Track World Championships: “I finished as I had dreamed”

On the parquet of the velodrome in Santiago de Chile, Elia Viviani wrote the last page of his immense career after announcing his retirement from cycling. And he didn’t do it in a banal way, simply by “participating” in the Track World Championships. At 36 years old and in his last ever bike race, the Veronese champion in fact gave himself world gold in the elimination race, his specialty, in a finale worthy of a sports novel.

It is the third world title in the discipline, after those won in 2021 and 2022. The atmosphere was that of great occasions. In the stands, a banner said it all: “Thanks for everything Elia!A collective greeting to an athlete who embodied the passion and tenacity of Italian cycling, launching the track tradition that gave us world and Olympic titles and golds.

A perfect race, an unrepeatable emotion

Viviani led the race with intelligence and heart, often remaining in the top positions and responding with clarity to the attacks of the New Zealander Campbell Stewart and the Dutchman Yoeri Havik, silver and bronze respectively. Then, with a final decisive sprint, Elia crossed the finish line in the lead, looking up towards the sky.

Immediately afterwards, two hugs: the first to his wife Elena Cecchini (also a professional cyclist), the second to Marco Villa, the coach who accompanied him on the path to the rebirth of Italian track cycling. Then the shirt with the writing “The Last Dance”, a white cloak and tears during the Mameli anthem.

An infinite list of honors for the “Prophet”

At the end of the test, Viviani did not hide his emotion:

I was really nervous, it had never happened to me. I finished as I had dreamed: wearing the rainbow jersey. I thank the Federation, the national team and the entire cycling world for these 16 fabulous years.

Simple words, but imbued with gratitude and awareness. Because whoever won an Olympic gold in Rio 2016, five medals at the Games and three world titles, all in elimination, has nothing left to prove. And 8 European golds on the track and one on the road in the 2019 road test.

Always on the road – where he ran as a sprinter – he is among the few to have completed the triple laurel, i.e. having achieved successes in the Giro d’Italia (five), the Tour de France (one) and the Vuelta a España (three). In all, 91 victories for him, numbers that many cyclists can only dream of.

An incredible journey, that of Elia Viviani – for everyone the “Prophet”. And with its gold, the gold of the women’s quartet in the team pursuit made up of Martina Alzini, Martina Fidanza, Vittoria Guazzini and Federica Venturelli and the bronze won in Madison by the Olympic champions Vittoria Guazzini and Chiara Consonni, Italy closes the World Championships with a third place in the medal table and the awareness that we will miss a champion like Elia enormously.

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