Ballan misses out on Bettini’s first team
The Italian team for the UCI Road World Championships is the first to be selected by the new national coach, Paolo Bettini. Bettini had raced under the direction of the previous Italian nation coach, Franco Ballerini, and had won the World Championships
in 2006 and 2007. Ballerini died in February, and Bettini officially took over as coach in June.
"I called the riders after the death of Franco, but to understand them and to help them. After I accepted my new role and left the Italian headquarters, I started to call the guys for the World Championships," said Bettini to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Alessandro Ballan has publicly criticized Bettini for leaving him out of the team headed to Geelong and Melbourne, Australia, on September 29th, to race on a course that Ballan feels is well suited to his strengths. He won the World Championships
in 2008 and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t selected, claiming that the coach has promised him a spot.
"I've always got on well with Bettini but perhaps my big mistake was not calling him up every day,” said Ballan. “I spoke to Cadel Evans about the course in Melbourne and he told me that if the weather is bad, it'll be just like the Tour of Flanders, a race
I've won.”
Ballan’s first season for the BMC Racing team has not been his best, but has still been quite good. He finished third in the national championships and in the top-10 in both of the recent Canadian one-day ProTour races.
"It was difficult to leave behind those who have contributed to my success,” said Bettini. “In the last days, I called Ballan, [Enrico] Gasparotto, [Daniele] Bennati and [Mauro] Santambrogio. Bennati was not included based on my idea of an attacking race.
Ballan wanted in, but was going a bit slower than I expected. It was not worth sacrificing a former world champion into the role of worker. I've talked about all the risks with Nibali. He is strong, he deserves it.”
Damiano Cunego, who was runner-up to Ballan when he won the World Championships in 2008, was also not selected, but the skilled support rider has admitted that his form is not what it could be. Bettini stated that he didn’t want to relegate Ballan to a domestic
role, but the rider didn’t buy that.
"I started my career getting my hands dirty, I helped Paolo win his titles and then was able to take advantage of working for him in Varese too,” said Ballan. “Last year I started the worlds wearing number one but I still accepted the role of going in the
early move."
Bettini announced on Tuesday that the team would be racing in honour of Ballerini, complete with sky blue jerseys with “Ballero always with us” written in Italian on the jersey, worn by all nine racers.
"I accepted the role as head coach because there is work to be finished. Unfortunately, I picked up where Franco left off, with the idea of racing as he wanted and putting together a loyal group of professionals."
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