Orlando Pitzanti: from Classical High School to Area Zero

In today’s world, young boys can hardly and perfectly match a high-level sporting activity with their school studies. For this reason, many teenagers are faced with the crossroads of choice: continue to study or try everything and throw themselves headlong into the sport they love? The first opportunity is obviously totally recommended. For the second, well, if you’re a champion, you might as well afford not to study. There are those who, however, manage to perform both intellectual and physical activity in an great way: we wanted to talk about it with the young cyclist Orlando Pitzanti, who spoke about himself in 360 degrees exclusively to Born To Cycle, starting from the origins of his passion, of his relationship with the school, going so far as to reach an opportunity today with the setting up of the Area Zero Pro Team. A spectacular self-portrait that will allow you to meet this young boy with a cycling talent and a high cultural level.

“Hi everyone, my name is Orlando Pitzanti and I was born in 2000. I am 1.70 m tall and at this time I weigh 52 kg (probably the lowest weight I have ever had: I am in shape weight, in short). I can’t be anything but a climber (smiling..ndr). I started to ride in 2014, when I was still 13 years old. Before starting to cycle, I practised four years of athletics and four years of football. My father, being a former amateur of the 80s and 90s, in 2013 he resumed the bike first to lose weight, but also to try to come back to racing in amateur competitions. And I had never seen bike races, not even on TV: even when my father used to watch a few races I would turn the channel, because I just didn’t like cycling. Then in that year, when he resumed, I went to see him in several races, and this sport started to like me. While I was still playing football, he bought me a bike, so to go out with him for a few walks. After two outings of twenty kilometers each, I gave up playing football. And I can assure you I really was a football lover, almost obsessed. I mean, it was love at first sight. Over the winter I started to make some outings more functional to the competitions that would have started then in April. So in 2014 I started cycling as a debuting in my second year: the first few years I raced mainly in Sardinia, a region where cycling is not so well developed than in other parts of Italy. There are few cyclists (15-20 for each category). To tell you, the under-23 category does not exist and juniors and students run together. In total you get to 45-50 runners, if that’s all right. I competed the first few years with velo Club Sarroch (Cagliari, ndr), which was the closest youth team to where I lived. When I was a second-year student I then changed the team, moving to the Ozierete Carrera (Sassari, ndr), whose headquarters was far from where I was, being about 200 kilometers from me. .”

Orlando then explained to us the reasons for the choice of the Classical High School, the most difficult and the most complete high school ever, which allows the student to build under all point of views: “To tell the truth I was very good in mathematics in middle school , in general in the scientific subjects, which I have always liked. In fact most of my friends tell me that I could have done scientific high school with good results, but I am happy with my choice. I chose the Classic because I thought it was suitable for a more global education, more than a scientific high school. It wasn’t a choice dictated by the fact that I was doing well in one or another subject. And then at the classical maturity exam I managed to graduate with a nice mark: 88/100, which satisfies me and please consider that my section was probably the most difficult because of the professors, quite demanding,…I can assure that it is a nice mark.”

As for future ambitions, he says: “In September there are a few races with the professionals and I would like to do well. The goal might be to try to get in some break to show who am I and let people to be curious of my talent. Of course, I can’t point to, who knows,  what result will be… Then next year will be the first real year in which I can dedicate myself exclusively to cycling. I will have to consolidate in the Under 23 category, managing to get some placements and still be there to play it. Then doing what I can in professional competitions will all depend on my progress.” 

(Niccolò Anfosso)