This year in Abruzzo there is a new grassroots cycling reality, which counts 40 Giovanissimi from G1 to G6 (30 males and 10 females) all practicing mountain bike and almost half also road cycling. Some are even continuing with cyclocross this winter, just to not interrupt the virtuous streak that sees the Abruzzo Cycling Team racing and having fun every weekend from March onwards.

The "deus ex machina" (or as he prefers to define himself, the mentor) of the structure is Alessandro Donati, a lifetime rider with Acqua&Sapone and today sports director of VF Bardiani Csf Faizanè: his two daughters race among the Giovanissimi and last year he responded to some parents' request to set up a new team. Promise kept: Donati cannot hold official positions, not only for time constraints but because regulations prohibit being a sports director for two teams simultaneously, however he managed to find the right group. Starting with his wife, Marzia Di Fazio, who besides being the president of the association is in all respects one of the technicians who follow the young cyclists. With her Lorys Andreoli, Ryan Gridelli, Samuele Del Papa and Diego Angelozzi. The vice president, as well as main sponsor with the family business CIC Carni, is another former Acqua&Sapone: Francesco Di Paolo.

The home of Abruzzo Cycling Team is Pescara, or to be more precise Montesilvano. There on Sunday evening, at the Bolsena restaurant, the end-of-year party was held, in the presence of the president of the Abruzzo regional FCI committee Mauro Marrone and Pescara's Sports Councilor Patrizia Martelli, during which all the team's boys and girls were internally awarded to celebrate this inaugural year. This project is part of a movement that, as we know, sees teams and practitioners progressively disappearing, especially on the road. «In Abruzzo we are about ten societies in the Giovanissimi, which drastically reduce to 2 for Esordienti and Allievi, and reach 3 in the Juniores category... and indeed for Central-South we defend ourselves excellently!» Alessandro Donati tells us, who completes his reflection with words that seem taken directly from the interview of his "patron" Bruno Reverberi on BlaBlaBike: «Much is said about the lack of the Italian World Tour, but here the base is gradually disappearing, young riders and families who still put them on a bicycle today are destined to find an increasingly wider hole. In fact, more than the 2nd place in the 2024 regional ranking that includes Giovanissimi, Esordienti and Allievi (obtained by doing only Giovanissimi activities) our real victory is having many children from other sports in the team.»

No small result, in fact. Here are a couple of final considerations from Donati. «First of all, I thank Roberto and the Reverberi family, who despite not being in any way linked to Abruzzo Cycling Team, accepted to donate us a lot of material: keys, stands, gazebos, they really filled us up! And then I would highlight a problem that Giovanissimi teams throughout Italy generally face: the extreme difficulty in finding road racing bikes of such small sizes. Manufacturers seem to no longer make them, so for the road we have to make our athletes use bikes even 30 years old.»