Amanda Spratt & Valentina Scandolara – Leading the Bunch

By Caelli Greenbank (@fireflycaelli) ?Where?s the best coffee you?ve had with us?? ?Here?? ?Yeah.? In Australia.? Valentina Scandolara frowns a little as she considers the question.? Her teammate, Amanda Spratt, laughs as Valentina struggles to come up with an answer. ?Well, not, obviously, if nothing?s coming to mind!? ?At Carlee?s home,? Valentina tells her triumphantly, ?because she just bought a Nespresso machine!? We?re sitting in a small caf? in Mawson Lakes, Adelaide, where Australia?s professional women?s cycling team, Orica-AIS, is holding a summer training camp around the Santos Women?s Cup.? As the newest rider and the first Italian on the team, Valentina is a little more particular with her coffee than the Australians.? She scrutinises the barista making her cappuccino very closely with an almost disapproving expression. ?Soave, I was born in,? Valentina returns to her explanation of her native Veneto region in northern Italy as we sit down with our coffees.? ?It?s a nice village, with all the walls ? mediaeval walls.? But the town of almost 7,000 people is no longer home to the 23-year-old.? Valentina now lives in Tregnago, an even smaller hamlet about 15 kilometres north-west of Soave. ?Tregnago is basically in a valley.? I have hills around, mountains, snow and flats to the south, so for training it?s the best ever.? It?s a nice area.? The wistful note in her voice gets stronger as she tells stories about her home town, until she fades into silence for a minute. ?I like Australia, but, you know?I?m missing Italy!? she admits with a laugh. ?Yeah, you?ve been here for a long time, like two months now,? Amanda remarks. ?When I was leaving I was like, ?Yes, yes, I leave Italy, yeah!? but then after a while?I don?t know how you do it,? Valentina confesses to her teammate. ?I was going to say, now you can see how we do it, like eight months away,? Amanda points out, and Valentina shrugs. ?I don?t know how you do it, with friends and everything,? she says simply. At 26, Amanda has already been through the separations that come with being an elite Australian cyclist competing at the top levels. ?It forces you to be independent from a young age, yeah,? she says.? ?Being away from home?I?ve had teammates through the years, some just get too homesick and then you don?t see them come back to Europe the following year, they just can?t do it. But for a lot of us you sort of end up getting used to it and you get used to not being in one place for a long time; you?re always on the move.? The rise of Australian cycling and the increasing number of Australian pros has meant an increasing Australian presence in Europe that helps to soften the blow. ?That?s why I think it?s been good, that all the Aussies seem to have a base somewhere,? Amanda explains.? ?I mean there?s Varese, and there?s also a lot in Girona, there?s all these sorts of pockets where you can find other Aussies.? There?s a lot round about, and it?s not that far to travel to see people or visit people.? It sorts of feels like a bit of home is over there.? It?s not quite the same, but being in a team where most of the riders are in the same situation also makes it easier. ?We?re all so far away from home, we?re all missing family and friends,? she says.? ?You don?t have your family there but you become pretty close to all your teammates.? Though she says it figuratively, that closeness is particularly true for Amanda and Valentina.? At just 161 & 159 centimetres, the pair are by far the shortest riders on the team, separated by just, ?2.2 centimetres,? Amanda reminds Valentina.? ?Towering over you!? Far from deploring their height, the pair embrace it, and the conversation abounds with jokes as the two take the mickey out of themselves and each other. ?We?re so tiny that they won?t see us go!? Amanda laughs about their chances of breaking away.? ?It?s just easier to be in the break than to try and see what?s actually happening.? ?That?s the reason I am always in the front!? Valentina exclaims.? ?If I?m behind on the wheel I can?t see.? I like to see the race, you know,? she says almost plaintively, making herself and Amanda laugh. ?Sometimes it?s good because you don?t see the pace coming, but other times it?s just, like?? Amanda?s eyeroll is almost audible in her battle-weary tone, but the quick smile that follows softens her words. ?For this reason we are always in the breakaways.? That?s the secret,? Valentina says with a small grin.? ?Not that I love to attack or she loves to attack, we just can?t see!? Apparently both riders get bored with the view from the peloton quite a lot, because the two became breakaway companions in the European races long before Valentina joined Orica-AIS. ?I think it began in [Emakumeen Euskal] Bira, yeah,? she says pensively. ?Bira, yeah.? In Spain,? Amanda affirms. ?So this day – you were with Australia, I think.? Valentina?s voice takes on a nostalgic tone.? ?I was with Gauss [Cycling Team].? The team was half and half, so I had to help the two climbers, and it was the last stage and I was really cooked, you know, so they said to me, ?Oh, you just have to do the first 20 kilometres, ?til the first climb.? ?So OK, I go to the front, and you know in the last stage when the GC is done?? Everyone attacks, so it was full gas in the beginning, and one, two, three, four, and then I couldn?t anymore.? And then this breakaway went away – were you already there?? Valentina interrupts herself to check with Amanda. ?Yeah,? the Australian nods. ?And I said, ?C?mon, we can go to [the breakaway]!? and they didn?t, so I had to go,? Valentina continues.? ?There was a little climb and the moto was there, so I catch the moto, and he will say to the radio that I?m here, so I?m OK, my director knows and then I can get dropped.? And then I looked behind and the bunch was not there!? So the breakaway went away, like, after 15 kilometres ? ? Amanda laughs as she takes over the story.? ?Yeah, it was like, 15 kilometres into the stage.? ?And they catch us like two kilometres from the end ? no, they catch me at 700 metres!? Valentina interjects again. ?Yeah, we had a big hill, and a very technical descent down, and they caught us in the final kilometre,? Amanda elaborates. ?So it was really long,? Valentina concludes simply.? ?And then Trentino [Giro del Trentino Donne] we were dropped together.? And then from there it began!? ?So now it?s nice to be able to cause pain together ? on the same team,? Amanda grins, and Valentina laughs. Despite her concerns, the change from the small Italian teams Valentina once rode on to Orica-AIS hasn?t been as difficult as she had thought. ?I was really nervous before coming here,? Valentina tells Amanda, ?but actually after two or three days, I was at home, really.? ?I think it?s the Australian mentality ? we?re all pretty laid-back,? Amanda suggests.? ?Vale here is fitting in?half-Australian already!? ?Now I?m worried because I found myself eating on the couch, like Australians,? Valentina adds, ?and I?m becoming lazy in cooking, so I said, ?Oh, I want to come back to Italy, I?m transforming, they are transforming me!? Valentina gives way to her dramatic side, making Amanda laugh again.? ?Vale?, as her teammates call her, is quick to find the light-hearted humour in almost anything, but that energy turns to fervour when Amanda starts talking about the smaller crowds at the women?s races. ?The thing is, they appreciate our race when they are there,? Valentina says with feeling.? ?If they don?t see, or they don?t know there is a women?s race, they never get to see it.? But when they are there, they really have fun. ?Also in Holland, I noticed this,? she adds.? ?They say, ?Oh, your criterium is better than the men?s criterium,? because basically they go there and they decide who will win, while our criterium is war!?? She says this with her customary grin, but it?s only fleeting as Valentina returns to her contention. ?So people really told us that it was way better, our criterium.? But if they never get to see the first one, they never know.? They never imagine it can really?increase the level of women?s cycling.? Foremost in the women?s minds is the Santos Women?s Cup, the female event being run alongside the men?s Santos Tour Down Under.? Both Amanda and Valentina stood on the overall podium either side of their winning teammate Loes Gunnewijk, but Amanda is quick to point out that it wasn?t an effortless whitewash by the team. ?We still had to work for it though.? It wasn?t just us,? she emphasises, mentioning how closely the team was marked in the closing Stage 3 criterium two evenings earlier by both World Tour and Australian NRS riders.? ?We were under the pump there. ?You can really notice the level of domestic riders primarily based in Australia, how much the level has increased in the last two years in particular,? Amanda points out.? ?We had a lot of nice comments from other riders saying it?s great that you guys came and supported it and we can race against you and see what level you?re at and we?re at.? I think that that?s important, too,? she concludes reflectively.? While she?s laughing she seems younger than her 26 years; in her serious moments Amanda?s calm, earnest demeanour very much implies otherwise. The clock marks the half-hour and we all prepare to leave.? Amanda is studying a communications degree part-time through Open Universities Australia and she still has an assignment left to finish tonight.? In the women?s peloton, it?s a common occurrence. ?Most people are studying or have a degree or have some sort of qualification or are looking towards a qualification, or know what they?re interested in and what they want to do post-cycling,? Amanda observes.? ?You sort of have to think about it because you?re not making money to buy houses and set yourself up for a life after.? But combining study with being a full-time elite athlete is not always easy. ?Some of my uni textbooks are like the most well-travelled textbooks on Earth,? Amanda admits with a laugh.? ?They just go from race to race and they just sit in the suitcase.? ?It?s difficult, ?cause when you are tired, physically, you can?t study as well,? Valentina chimes in, and Amanda murmurs her agreement.? Valentina is likewise working on a degree in Italy via distance education ? Science and Technologies for Breeding Animals.? Her expression softens as she tries to explain her highly specialised course. ?Sort of veterinary medicine, but it?s not,? she says.? ?It?s what I like, basically. ?It?s not easy, and it?s not easy to find a job later, but?it?s my passion, so I couldn?t see a better choice.?