Last week, the cyclist Tamara Dronova not only defended the title of national “cup” champion, but also won the group race. On the track, she runs for Marathon-Tula and on the road for Roland Cogeas Edelweiss. In its composition, at the end of July, it starts in the women’s Tour de France.
— Tamara, what experience do you have of stage races? Maximum how many days?
– Four. From now on, there will be exactly twice as many race days on the Tour. Neither the Tour nor the Giro took place. Before the season, we expressed our wishes and then we corrected them with the sporting director. Initially, I had chosen the Giro, but the race is more mountainous, and the Tour has sprint stages. So at the end I go “Tower”.
– Let’s be honest, when you came to the Games, it was about how to get on such a field and be in the top 30 at most. This year, you are in the top 10 in Gent-Wevelgem. Progress?
“We can definitely say there has been progress. Before, I thought of the motorways as preparation for the track, but when I signed with Cogeas, I really enjoyed driving road races. Previously, I only started at the Russian Championship and Maykop races. So if all normal athletes had international races first, then European and World Championships and Olympics, it’s the opposite for me – it started with the Olympics, then there’s had the World Championship and then the international races.
– Did the Olympics give a boost to your road career?
– I realized that there are people who believe in me, even if I didn’t believe in myself somewhere. I swore to myself that at the next Olympics, if possible, I would definitely not be 33rd.
– There was nothing like: Tamar, where are you going at all, are there monsters like Annemiek van Fluiten?
– Not. Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn’t really realize all that. I knew, of course, that the same Annemiek wins, if not all, at least almost all. It was interesting.
– Why didn’t you start trying out on the freeway sooner? After all, at the beginning there was even a sprint with Nastya Voinova in the European Championship. How did all this happen?
– Indeed, my career has developed according to a strange scenario. I came to sprint. There was Nastya, Dasha Shmeleva, Katya Gnidenko… The whole fight clip. Therefore, it did not work out among the Russian “under” and I was sent to tempo events. As a result, she was already selected there, won the European Championship. But my coach didn’t take that into account for me either. And only five years later, with a new coach, they gradually began to think about the highway. I was not considered for the national team at the time, I was a pure tracker until recent events. The first step to the highway was bronze in the Russian championship in the individual race, noticed the Cogeas team. And so on.
Do you like the highway now?
– As. Track races are more energetic, fast-paced, but fleeting in time. On the highway, in four hours, you can die, resurrect, die again, resurrect again, and keep fighting. Road racing has its own magic.
– It’s already such a long conversation, and you started from the sprint.
– I think they took me to the sprint, because anthropometrically and physically there were certain data. But when I was skiing, I ran both sprints and marathons. Different races depending on the profile.
— Have you followed the progress of our skiers in Beijing?
– I watch the races, but not so often. At first, it was generally sad to see that.
– Why?
– My ski start was not fully conscious. There were difficulties with the coach. With a warm hand she said – that’s it, I won’t do it again, although there have been offers from other teams. I then decided to study at all, but the coach who introduced me to cycling convinced me that talent should not be wasted. You have to try your hand at cycling and then decide.
– The freeway means more sidings, and you’re a mother. How are you?
– In this regard, I was lucky. I have an understanding husband you can rely on. I know they will be fine and there is nothing to worry about.
– Did you come back to sport to start a new stage in your career, or did you still think – just come back and be as it will be?
– To be honest, the first month after the birth of a child was very difficult for me at home … The life of an athlete is also routine to some extent, but I simply could not not support it. a place at home. She said I was bored and decided to try to come back. My husband said it was worth a try – he supports me in my efforts, even if he doesn’t always agree.
Five months later, she took part in the Russian Championship in Omsk and won two gold medals there. Of course, it was hard, the child took time day and night, there were problems, like all children. But somehow we made it. In the ninth month, I already went to the World Cup stage on the track. The team was given another chance to prove themselves.
How long are you spending in Turkey? It feels like if you’re not on the run, you’re constantly there.
– When my son was small, we went to train in Crimea. Sochi and Adler which I removed from the options a long time ago – there is a large flow of cars and a lot of disgruntled drivers. The question arose of where to train and live, so it would be convenient to return to Russia and go to the races. They chose between Cyprus and Turkey, with Turkey it turned out to be easier, then there was a lockdown. We stayed there waiting for everything to open, ended up in Turkey for almost a year. So in practice, we realized that everything suits us there. Moreover, in today’s reality, it is a good hub – now it takes at least 12 hours to fly from Russia to Europe via Turkey, plus an expensive ticket.
Everything is practical here, everyone likes it. The climate makes it possible to train, the local population behaves well on the road.
How are you received in Europe? Do you feel negative?
– Not. The only thing is that in Belgium I was not announced as a Russian athlete, in the file before the performance there were only European badges. And so all is well. The girls on the team are normal, there are no conflicts, no sideways glances. From the other teams I have not noticed anything like this, no one is disrespectful.
– Allow yourself to think: I would have taken the highway sooner now if all this had happened sooner…
No, I think there is a time for everything. I am grateful that at least now all of this has happened. Not too late, by the way. Road cycling is generally reserved for adults and the experienced.
– Will there be rest?
– Rest was – a week of two-hour rides. It was enough not to be heavily loaded, but not to fall out of the process. After the Tour, there will be no break – we have races planned in Sweden and Norway, and then, maybe if everything grows together, there will be a Spartakiad of the strongest.
Source : MatchTV
