They are right to celebrate in Vignone, on the hills of Lake Maggiore above Verbania. Relatives, friends and fellow villagers of Pippo Ganna They had met in front of the big screen set up at the Oratory of San Martino to watch the “final” for the bronze in the team pursuit cycling on the track of the blue quartet with Simone Consonni, Jonathan Milan and Francesco Lamon. And in the end joy exploded. This bronze is worth a gold. It is worth it because it is a confirmation, because time passes and staying at the top is not easy and above all it is not a given. And it is worth gold because (it must be said), the Italian team, perfectly guided by the Ct Marco Villaamong the four semifinalists, was the only one in recent years to have to do somersaults to find a velodrome to train at. It’s not a detail. So after the gold in Tokyo, the Italian train climbs back onto the podium, clearly defeating Denmark in the challenge for third place. The Italians start slower, are forced to chase the Danes who perhaps overdo it and, after a couple of kilometers, begin to give in and fall apart completely in an attempt to resist Milan’s acceleration. Bronze with a time of 3’44″197 and almost two seconds on their rivals. Gold goes to the Australian quartet: Oliver Bleddyn, Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Kelland ÒBrien who finished in 3’42″067, beating Great Britain in the final, silver in 3’44″394. There are medals that are heavier than others. And this bronze really weighs a lot because it comes the day after a “setback” that had taken away from our team the Olympic throne and the world record won in Tokyo. There wasn’t just a medal to win, we had to pick up the pieces, get back together, start pedaling hard, really hard, to make the world understand that history continues…