"The grit was still there, but the legs not": Christian Scaroni regrets missing out on European Championships podium

Cristian Scaroni is one of the main reasons XDS Astana will be a WorldTour team also for the next three years. The Italian whose career nearly ended three years ago with the closure of Gazprom surpassed his limits and quadrupled his UCI points from last year to crucially contribute to the Kazakh team's survival. A sweet reward for his steep improvement was first ever call-up to represent Italy at the European Championships where not much was missing for a medal outcome.

"I have a bitter taste in my mouth and I'm trying to take the good," Scaroni looked back in an interview with bici.pro. "Then behind those two, Pogacar and Evenepoel, it would have been even harder. But someone had to finish fourth and it fell to me..."

Before this season, Scaroni was never called up to represent his country at the big Championships. Now suddenly, after a breakthrough season that saw him triumph five times, the 27-year-old was immediately promoted to the role of leader for European Continental Championships.

The climby course was not new to Scaroni. The Faun-Ardeche Classics in March featured the Val d'Enfer climb as well. And as it was a race where Scaroni finished 5th, the decision whether to send Scaroni to Kigali, or let him stay in Europe, was not difficult.

"I had raced at the beginning of the season on the European Championships course," he recalled before continuing: "It was an identical race, a little less tough, because the long climb was twice as short and, I think, four times less steep," Scaroni laughs.

The Italian team's coaching staff divided the leadership between Giulio Ciccone (Kigali) and Scaroni (Ardeche) to keep everyone happy.

"I talked about it with (Maurizio) Mazzoleni. And from the moment I learned that the European Championships would be held on that course, which represents the perfect synthesis of my characteristics, I started thinking seriously about it. I had also considered the World Championships, but I knew that if I had raced in Rwanda, I wouldn't have been able to prepare optimally for the European Championships."

As the race developed, a trio with Juan Ayuso, Paul Seixas and Scaroni in it formed in the battle for last podium spot as Pogacar and Evenepoel put minutes into everyone else. The battle for bronze medal remained close for a long time as nobody wanted to go too soon and blow up before the finale. Thus the decisive point came on the last time up Val d'Enfer.

"We were all exhausted, having ridden 110 kilometers between the four of us. Then Remco left, and the three of us were pretty worn out. As soon as we reached the climb, Ayuso dropped away. I was already dropping halfway, but with the strength of pride I told myself to hang in there, because the road was flattening out a bit above, and that's when I overrevved for the first time."

"I managed to catch my breath for two seconds, and when Seixas gave it back to me, I tried to react. But 50 meters from the categorized point, I sat down and my legs fell apart. A shame, because he crested the hill 10 meters ahead of me, but I had really given it my all. The grit was still there, but the legs were missing."

Still, against some of the best riders in Europe, Scaroni was able to hold his own and lost only to superstars Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel and the future superstar Paul Seixas who was merely 10 meters stronger than him after five hours of racing.

"The thing that sticks with me most is that once again, not that I needed it, I proved to myself and everyone else that on certain types of courses, if I'm well and have prepared for the event, I can compete with anyone . My only regret is not having brought home the medal, but that's how it went and we have to take what's good. What we did in the national team was important."