The first races of the season have arrived, Europe is about to wear its traditional clothes as the reference continent for the world of two wheels, and therefore there couldn't be a better moment to discover the new forces of Italian cycling. We propose a stage-by-stage journey to discover the new faces of our movement: we will talk about neo-professionals, riders who have landed in the Devo teams of major squads, Italian Continental teams, and our guys racing around the world. Are you ready? Let's start and... pedal with us!

SECOND EPISODE - THE DEVO TEAMS

The journey to discover young Italians in the Devo Teams starts, noblesse oblige, with the tricolor: Edoardo Zamperini, Under 23 Italian champion, ideally opens the discussion of riders joining the Devo team of a major squad: the Verona native, who also won the tuttoBICI Oscar in his category, will wear the jersey of the development team of Arkea B&B Hotels.

Still in the Continental category is Davide Donati - who in 2024 triumphed at Liberazione and finished second at Giro del Belvedere - leaving Biesse Carrera to join the development team of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe and thus will have a great opportunity ahead of him. Just like him, Thomas Pesenti, a 25-year-old from Lombardy who comes from a successful season with the JCL Team Ukyo, is joining the Soudal Quick Step Devo.

JUNIORS, THERE IS TALENT. The Devo teams of top squads have drawn extensively from the junior category, which truly gives hope for the future of our movement. Leading the list could only be the junior world champion Lorenzo Mark Finn (who among other achievements won a stage of Giro della Lunigiana and two Italian category titles, plus the tuttoBICI Oscar) who will continue his path - already started in 2024 in the Red Bull development team.

UAE Emirates wanted Enea Sambinello (three victories including a stage of Giro del Friuli, second place at Giro della Valdera, third in the Italian time trial and Giro del Friuli) and Davide Stella in its Next Gen formation, who signed six road victories and swept up Italian, European, and World track titles. And Stella himself gave Italy its first official victory in the 2025 UCI calendar by winning the second stage of the Tour of Sharjah, a 1.2 category race held in the United Arab Emirates.

Another 2024 world champion, this time in cyclocross, is Stefano Viezzi (on the road, first in Castrocielo and 7th in Lunigiana) who will race in the development team of Alpecin Deceuninck and will be able to refine his multidisciplinary skills under the guidance of Mathieu Van der Poel.

From Team Giorgi to XdS Astana Development moves Ludovico Mellano, a Piedmontese who in 2024 achieved four victories including a stage of Giro d'Abruzzo, where he finished second overall, then third at Trofeo Buffoni and eighth at the European road championships. With him in the Kazakh formation are also Luca Attolini from Mario De Cecco Logistica Ambientale and David Zanutta from Team Tiepolo Udine. Luca Travaglia from Padovani moves to the Team Novo Nordisk Development. A substantial Italian group joins the Bahrain Victorious Development Team, which has "absorbed" the historic Cycling Team Friuli: from the Continental team come Alessandro Borgo, Thomas Capra, Lorenzo Mottes and Bryan Olivo, alongside whom will make their category debut Elia Andreaus, Santiago Basso (Ivan's son) and Leonardo Consolidani.

Closing this list of juniors joining official Devo Teams is Andrea Bessega who - with two victories and excellent placings like second at Giro del Veneto, 4th at Eroica Juniors stage race, 5th at Lunigiana and Giro del Friuli - will continue his growth path in the Lidl Trek Future Racing.

THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY HERE. The large group of juniors we just mentioned joins an equally substantial group of guys who have already been racing for one or two seasons in the Devo teams of the world's strongest squads. Dario Igor Belletta and Pietro Mattio are preparing for their third season with Visma Lease a Bike and Federico Savino is also in his third year with Soudal Quick Step: the latter did very well in 2024, winning a stage of Circuit Ardennaise and GP Stad Halle, finishing second at Lombardia U23 and 3rd in the final Bohemia Tour classification. With him in the Belgian team is also Renato Favero, European Under 23 team pursuit champion and unfortunate protagonist at the Elite World Championships in the same specialty.

Another team pursuit talent is Luca Giaimi of UAE Emirates Gen Z while Matteo Milan, Jonathan's brother, will continue his journey in Lidl Trek Future Racing.

In Tudor Under 23 under Fabian Cancellara are Samuele Alari and Juan David Sierra, with the latter winning the third stage of Tour de la Mirabelle in France and finishing fifth in Paris-Troyes.

In XdS Astana are Mattia Negrente, who signed the GP Goritska, and Simone Zanini, while another pair continues working in Hagens Berman Jayco, which is now the official development team of Jayco AlUla: Samuele Privitera and Mattia Sambinello are growing under Axel Merckx's guidance.

Completing the picture are Nicholas Milesi (2nd in Italian time trial and ninth in the European championship) in the Arkea development team and Simone Gualdi (9th in Valle d'Aosta and 14th in Avenir) in the Wanty - Nippo - Re-Uz, development team of Intermarché.

Without forgetting, of course, the work of Italian Continental teams (which we'll discuss in tomorrow's episode): we hope their choice becomes increasingly international and not simply linked to being "called up" to participate in some Italian race with professionals: our young riders need a path that can help them grow through continuous comparison with age-group peers from around the world.

Because while we don't currently have a phenomenon - although there are some important signals - Italian cycling still has quite a few talented boys. We just need to "help" them grow.

2 - to be continued