We've extensively discussed on this website the history and stature of Team Giorgi, a pride of Bergamo and Italian cycling in the Junior category. A pedigree well highlighted on the team's Instagram profile, featuring a palmares of 3 World Championships, 8 European Championships, 28 national championships (from various countries) and over 550 victories overall. Among the protagonists of such success are two brothers from the Czech Republic: the "older" (born in 2000) and the younger (born in 2002) Karel and Mathias Vacek. The first raced for Team Giorgi in 2017 and 2018, the second in 2019 and 2020: a four-year period marked by the Vaceks, or rather two uninterrupted two-year periods.

Karel scored 13 victories: at the time he was battling with Evenepoel (beating him on a couple of occasions) but couldn't then confirm his potential (due to the closure of Qhubeka and subsequent difficulties in finding a team) and retired at the end of last season to become a brand manager for Alé in Central and Eastern European markets; his professional highlight remains 2nd place behind Davide Bais in the Campo Imperatore stage of the Giro in 2023.

Mathias, on the other hand, totaled 17 victories: one of them was the European ITT title in Plouay in 2020, preceding Brenner and Milesi. Then came direct promotion to professional ranks, the closure of Gazprom RusVelo (whose last absolute victory was this rider's first "pro" win: the sixth stage of the UAE Tour in 2022) and signing with what was then Trek Segafredo, now Lidl Trek. Subsequently he won both the Czech national road (2023) and time trial (2024) titles, doing excellent work for team leaders and in personal spotlight, with stage runner-up positions at Vuelta and Paris-Tours... up to leading the TTT at the Volta Valenciana in this season debut, and especially leading Pedersen's train in the white jersey at the Giro d'Italia.

Curious about this young rider's future, we took a small dive into the past thanks to Carlo Giorgi's testimony. A constructor with his Fratelli Giorgi company in Torre de' Roveri, always traveling for work, much like the cyclists he sponsors (strictly in youth categories) for forty years: from the Polisportiva Albano Sant'Alessandro in the eighties, to Team Giorgi founded in 1997, where among others the Vacek brothers were formed.

It all started with Karel: President Giorgi, where did you find him?

"Leone Malaga, who is now our team manager and was in his first year with us as a technician, signaled him to me: he saw him in an Allievi race in Veneto where he won 5 minutes ahead, and told me that this boy wanted to come and race in Italy and we needed to meet him immediately. We spoke with his father, who's also named Karel and raced in the Czech Republic, and we agreed. I welcomed Karel 'junior' like a son, hosting him at my home. At the end of the year, we signed his younger brother Mathias, still on crutches from a car accident, to race with our Allievi in 2018 and subsequently for two years in the Junior category, and the two brothers lived together in an apartment we provide for athletes."

What were they like?

"The definition of good people. And naturally, two talents: Mathias made the difference because perhaps he has something more in 'numbers' (as Karel was a pure climber, he is strong on all terrains) and in mentality, but both very serious boys. I'm not surprised by what Mathias is showing and I was very sorry to see Karel end his career prematurely."

Do you have any particular memories that connect you to them?

"All their successes with Team Giorgi (see photo above, with Mathias's European ITT gold medal) but especially their character, their humility. As you can hear from my voice (we can confirm this, ed.) I get emotional talking about them. It's something that happens to me with those riders who have remained in my heart: from Alessandro Covi to Alessio Martinelli, from Luca Giaimi to Edoardo Gavazzi (Pierino's nephew) and others. They repay me for the sacrifices I've made and continue to make to keep this cycling reality solid."

A reality that will turn thirty in a year and a half!

"Yes, but I'm not thinking about it. I'm a concrete person who focuses on what needs to be done: following races every weekend I can; and when I can't, staying constantly updated with Malaga; organizing the Giorgi Trophy in June; contributing to a movement increasingly suffocated by bureaucracy and the insecurity of our roads. I even have a nephew who had to stop cycling after a collision with a car!"

Returning to the present, then, who are the talents to watch from your current roster?

"Matteo Mengarelli and Giacomo Rosato, who already have a couple of victories each this year, have a guaranteed future. I also have high hopes for the first-year Polish rider Igor Mitoraj, who strong both on road and track."

Let's stay in the present but conclude with the key topic of this phone call: do you still keep in touch with the Vacek brothers?

"Absolutely! Every time Karel passes through Bergamo, he calls me and if we can, we meet: this year he brought me his brother's jersey from the Lidl Trek training camp in Spain, you can't imagine my satisfaction. Regarding Mathias, when I saw his monstrous work in the finale at Matera for Pedersen, I went crazy, sent him a message to congratulate him and promised him I'll come visit him at a stage. I've already decided which one to go to, but I won't tell you because I want to surprise him..."