One of the novelties of the next season is the arrival of the continental Solme ElmAn important decision taken by the president Gianpietro Forcolin, which has strong repercussions on the very structure of the team which will merge with the next year Goodbye, co-opting into their team 5 members of the team who have based their main activity on the track, from Lamon a Sporzon, Galli a Patuelli, Fiorin and Sasso.
Forcolin is a president who is the beating heart of his team, looking after it like a son: "We're coming off two or three very good seasons," he says, "where we've achieved excellent results and our athletes have emerged. The transition to the continental championships is dictated by the fact that We want to give our kids the opportunity to compete and have more chances to take part in stage racesA cyclist's growth depends on this, so perhaps we'll do fewer one-day races and a few more stage races, because we're trying to prepare young people with enough experience to help them as they grow."
How will the team be structured?
We want to have 19 riders next year, including the quintet coming from Arvedi. They can be considered track specialists and will focus on this, also taking part in road races to train and complete the series of tasks necessary to excel on the velodromes. Six players have been confirmed from last year, we can reach 19-20. We have already defined with the Pool Cantù GB Team also the passage among the Under 23s of Julian Bortolami e Luca Morlino who will make their debut with us in the new category.
The track work is also important. Is it done in synergy with Salvoldi to ensure the boys work well, also considering the training sessions in Montichiari and the track commitments?
Yes, we will work together to match the road and track seasons. We need to take joint and agreed upon paths, considering we're a very young team. My ambition is to also have some experienced, slightly older riders, but I'll have to see how many the UCI allows me to field in the Continental squad. The regulation provides for 16 plus a maximum of four specialists. At the moment the elite are Lamon and Galli, we'll see if there's the possibility of expanding the number, then we'll have 5 riders making their debut among the U23s.
Will they all be Italian or, like this year, will there be some foreigners too?
All Italians, it is a clear choice made this yearIn 2025, we also had a Colombian athlete. There were some possibilities of bringing foreign kids to Italy, but honestly, after thinking about it a bit, we said no. It's better that we give space to Italian riders also because we have some valid ones anyway. In Italy, there are only so many places, so at this point we're trying to make ours run.
It's always said that in Italy there's a bit of a war against those who want to do track or other disciplines other than road. You're going a bit against the grain...
We have always been supporters of it, and I especially said in unsuspecting times that multidisciplinarity is good. Trentino He always did cross-country with excellent results every season and then I saw that he continued to do so even in the first years of his professional career. Because it was a different way of approaching cycling while having fun., but at the same time training in a different way and above all training that was profitable for what he had to do next.
Same for the track?
The same goes. It's not a pejorative for the road, just as the road is not a pejorative for the track.It's logical that in certain situations we will have to make choices, but they are 100 percent compatible.
This year you have only had one international victory…
I look at the complex, we brought home 7 successes. Then we came second at the Circuito del Porto, fourth at the Popolarissima, If we talk about international racing we have had many placings, We were there, after all. So this year's results are definitely positive. We're happy with what we've achieved.
How much does making the move to the continentals change you at a corporate level?
For me, it only affects the financial aspect. Therefore, we need more support in finding sponsors. If you look at the budgets and the athletes I had last year, all the activities we did, we only had 20 days of competition abroad, without taking into account all the races we participated in in Italy. Constantly doing double duty is sometimes really costly, because you lack the raw material. At certain times, even though we had 18 kids, I struggled to get the 7 together to leave.
So will you also be doing business abroad?
This was precisely the reason that pushed us to switch to continental. As a company, we have set ourselves the goal, as far as possible, to have our kids do a stage race every month.It's logical that the riders will rotate, because not everyone can do everything. Many of the stage races in Europe are 2.1. Therefore, if you're not part of the Continental category, you can't be there. I received invitations last season, but I couldn't go because we were a club team. Now we finally can.
