This article is written in collaboration with Elite, who are a partner of Mountain Massif. For more information visit https://www.elite-it.com/
There are moments in cycling that are timeless, split-second events that become part of the history of the sport. In 2001 when Lance Armstrong gave a glance behind to assess the race before attacking on Alpe d’Huez, little did he know that this moment would become known as “The Look.” Similarly, this year, on stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia, another moment was created.
Race leader, Tadej Pogačar was soloing to victory with 21 kilometers remaining and alongside him appeared a young fan, running, cheering him on. At the same time, a soigneur from Team UAE Emirates passed a bottle to Tadej, who not needing it, simply passed it to the young fan. It was a moment of pure kindness. It was class.
That 10 second event, was seen by millions. The bottle at the centre of this was Elite’s.
Seeing this, Elite were captivated by this act of generosity and facilitated a meet-up between that young fan and his hero, Tadej Pogačar, to get that now famous bottle, signed by his hero.
This is the story of how this happened.
The magic moment
You can’t work at Elite and not be a fan of cycling, so when Tadej passed the bottle to the young supporter, that act of generosity was discussed throughout the company. It was even more poignant that it was one of Elite’s bottles that was the catalyst.
Elite’s Marketing Manager, Mattia Gomiero, began thinking how special it would be for the young boy to get the now famous bottle signed by his hero, Tadej, just before the start of the Tour de France, which was starting in Florence, Italy.
The only trouble was how to possibly find him? “You would have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding the fan,” Mattia commented.
Good fortune
Fortunately, luck was on Elite’s side. This event was big news in Italy and soon the young boy, also named Mattia, was appearing on local television and in the local newspaper recalling his experience and talking about his cycling club that he raced for. The cycling club was not too far away from Elite’s Headquarters and a member of staff knew the coach at the cycling club.
With this bit of news, it wasn’t long before Elite were putting their resources to work to check if it would be possible to arrange a meeting between Tadej and young Mattia, before the start of the Tour de France, to get the now famous bottle signed. Naturally, when UAE Team Emirates heard Elite’s request, they responded with an instant “Yes” and were fully supportive of this unique opportunity.
Connecting with the family
Soon, Elite had the telephone number of the young “aficionado” and called the family, and spoke to his father. He gladly accepted Elite’s invitation to travel to nearby Florence, before the start of the Tour, to enable his son to meet Tadej. It was agreed that the meeting part of the experience with Tadej would be kept secret from Mattia, ensuring a special surprise and instead told him that they were going to be guests of Elite at the Grand Départ.
The meeting
The moment of the meeting between Mattia and Tadej was captured on camera and those that were there, describe it as “magical.” This was because Elite had deliberately misled Mattia by explaining that “due to race commitments, Tadej would not be available.” Although he was pleased at being in Florence for the start of the largest bike race in the world, it was evident that he was slightly disappointed at not being able to meet his idol. This meant that when he came out to meet Mattia, the surprise was overwhelming and he was frozen to the spot. As those filming the event recalled “he couldn’t believe that Tadej was in front of him.”
Meeting his idol and getting his bottle signed, Mattia maintained his composure despite being at that very moment, the happiest person in the world.
The challenges
The 10-minute video that captured this memorable moment took an enormous amount of effort by a team of talented people, working under tight deadlines. Filmmaker Enrico Masiero was responsible for capturing the moment when both met, something that had been kept secret all day. With only one opportunity to document the event Enrico had to ensure he was close enough to capture the action, without imposing and spoiling the moment.
The another challenge involved editing the video to ensure it told the story in a succinct and meaningful way. Those in Elite who saw an early draft recalled that “we were moved” as the emotion of the day had been perfectly captured on film.
Reception
What Elite achieved was special, not just for Mattia, but for all those who appreciate cycling. This is not a promotional video for Elite’s products, this documentary tells the true nature of cycling. The small gesture from Tadej of handing over the bottle, has had a much larger impact than he could have possibly imagined and it was special seeing Mattia meet Tadej under different circumstances. Proof of this is that already more than 2 million people feel the same, as this is the number of views that both the trailer and documentary have received.
Who knows, in a few years’ time, we might be writing about Mattia, who inspired by these events goes on to reach the pinnacle of the sport, like his idol has done, and it was thanks to Elite, who were there to capture the moment.
