Dopo tre tappe difficili, l’atleta del CSE ha deciso di chiudere anzitempo la parentesi nella prestigiosa gara a tappe, con lo sguardo rivolto ai prossimi impegni in Coppa del Mondo.
Toblach, Italy – Dec. 31st, 2019 • The Tour for Defast lasted only three rounds. To influence the choice, a condition that struggles to arrive, together with the results that have been stingy in this first part of the season.
De Fabiani, at his sixth Tour de Ski (three of which ended), was in fact never really "into the race", with the exception of a good Skating Sprint in Lenzerheide, however, closed in sixteenth position.
«The feelings are not that good – says Francesco – and unfortunately it is a situation that has been carrying on for over a month, since the first retirement in Finland. Since Ruka's race, little has changed, either in terms of sensations or results».
Today's race in Toblach (15 Km F interval start) did not give the right guarantees to be able to continue: «I closed far from the top, I didn't even manage to enter the Top 30 and what I feel like saying is that this is not the De Fabiani of the past year when, with a super condition, I had 2 podiums in the Tour. We are approaching the Val di Fiemme round, the 15 Km C mass start, but I am sure that with this condition I would not go that far. I believe it is absolutely useless to persevere, therefore we have decided to leave the scene in order to take a "RESET"».
What went wrong is still not clear: «Today, in the first kilometers I was doing well, I didn't even try to overdo it, I kept my rhythm but then I dropped dramatically. Let's say I'm doing the opposite of what I usually do: instead of growing in the end, I tend to drop seriously. Today, I seemed to be doing a 30 Km, instead it was a 15 Km, I was so tired».
Defast, however, hasn’t the morale on the floor: «I'm sorry, not disappointed. Now I will take a few days off and then I will start preparing 2020 again, as if we were at the beginning of the season, especially without back pain and with many motivations».
In the last few days the doubt was of having contracted a virus, but fortunately the results of the tests have been negative: «I have all the blood tests in order, no value out of range, no viruses. This is really positive for me, the season is very long, there will be the Ski Tour in Scandinavia, the Sprint Tour in Canada, of course the 50 Km of Oslo, there are plenty of opportunities of redemption. In any case, I hope to return back to the scene already at Nove Mesto, in about two weeks, I am looking forward to finding the condition».
Today 2019 is going to end, a very positive year, though: «With this race, the year ends, a year that gave me incredible emotions, with the 2 podiums in the Tour (Oberstdorf and Val di Fiemme), with second place in the World Cup in the Sprint of Cogne, with the world bronze of Seefeld obtained in the Team Sprint with Federico Pellegrino. We hope to face the year 2020 up to expectations, in the meantime I wish all my fans a stellar new year!».
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Press Office of Francesco De Fabiani
Written by Paolo Mei
Translated by Nicolò Caneparo
