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Planet Interview with Ippo Sanfratello, manager of the Fila International Racing Team: Fila's Manager Says Team Remains Strong This Year (Part 3 of 3) Ippolito: For the 2005 season, Zangarini signed with a different team, and of course, he was an important player for us in 2004. His role was to protect Max Presti from the attacks of other teams in the final sprint. Basically, he hasn't been replaced, but we'll organize the final sprint in a different way that you'll see in the first competitions. Luckily, each Fila athlete has specific technical and physical characteristics that allow us to be competitive in different conditions. Thanks to that we can use different tactics depending on the racecourse and other factors that can also change during the race. Robert: Is the Fila team still split this year into International A and International B teams? Ippolito: This year there will be only one Fila International team, composed of Max Presti, Luca Saggiorato, Baptiste and Mathieu Grandgirard and Matteo Polletti. Fila also registered a Fila Italy team composed of Danilo Sinigaglia (who is also helping me as team coach and is the team physiotherapist), Claudio Bontempo and myself. Fila International will compete in all the World Cup races while Fila Italy will only compete in the Swiss Cup and in some of the European races. We continue to have two teams because during the season there are many competitions that take place on the same date, and in this way we can participate in both. In particular in Italy, you often have to choose between World Cup races and the Italian National team so athletes like Claudio Bontempo can focus their season on the European and World Championships and participate in some of the international marathons. Robert: When did your team start training together this year and how does it train? Ippolito: We don't train a lot together. We only plan two weeks of training during the season: one in March near Venice and one in June near St. Moritz. During these weeks, we normally train to learn the tactics for the final sprint and to define the best technical set up of our equipment (frames, wheels, etc.) Robert: What do you expect from the Seoul Marathon this year? Ippolito: I expect that the team is going to have a good race in Seoul. All the big World Cup players will be there. After last season, everyone will want to control us. But despite this, we don't feel a lot of pressure. We'll just try to do our best, and this will be enough to be on top. Seoul is a very easy course and probably there'll be a pack sprint, and we're ready for that. In case of breakaway attempts, we'll be ready, too. Robert: Which teams do you think will be the best in the World Inline Cup this year? Ippolito: I haven't seen any races yet, but all teams seem stronger this year. ... As far as Fila goes, we're going to stick to our tactics, so I only have to make sure the team stays concentrated and motivated. Robert: Which skaters do you think will be the best this year? ... How about Max Presti? Do you think he can stay on top? Ippolito: Regarding the best skaters, it's too early to tell who will be the strongest because it depends on each team's strength, and we have to wait and see what happens in the first competitions. As for Max Presti, he is a professional, and he always trains hard, so for sure he will be a protagonist.
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