At the tuttoBICI Awards night, Mattia Cattaneo will be honored as team player of the year. The 35-year-old from Alzano Lombardo, a valuable teammate of Remco Evenepoel, will receive the special "extra man" prize from former pro Nicola Miceli on November 28th, an award sponsored by ACM Asfalti on the occasion of our publication's 30th anniversary.

A professional since 2012, Cattaneo has raced with Lampre, Androni, and Soudal Quick Step, securing 4 victories. He has competed in 14 Grand Tours and 16 Monuments, with only Paris-Roubaix missing to complete his collection - though this isn't in his captain's plans. Evenepoel has chosen him for Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe for the next three seasons.

Proud of this award?

"Very much. It's an honor to participate in your end-of-season celebration. I'm truly pleased that people in the cycling world have understood and appreciated my work. The role of a domestique is historically special and is becoming increasingly rare. An athlete who sacrifices himself for another has the flavor of an old-fashioned feat, a gesture from another time. My advice for young riders who will be on stage at the Principe di Savoia Hotel? To find their balance as quickly as possible and in the right way. It took me a while... In 2011 I won the U23 Giro d'Italia, so I transitioned with very high expectations and risked losing myself by chasing extreme leanness."

Weight has been much discussed this year, especially after Pauline Ferrand Prevot's Tour de France Femmes victory. Do you think more attention is now paid to athlete health?

"I believe so. In the past, there was a false belief that the thinner you were, the faster you'd go. Today, with all the carbohydrates we consume, this myth has been debunked. In every World Tour team, there are 4-5 nutritionists monitoring us and preventing our complexes from influencing us. The problem lies in lower categories. When I was 20, I wasted four or five seasons. If the same had happened when I was 15, it might have impacted my long-term growth and development. This is the greatest risk of 'professionalizing' lower categories. Young riders aren't always ready to face certain sacrifices and aren't always guided by people capable of leading them."

Today you're one of Remco Evenepoel's trusted teammates, a global cycling star. What's it like racing alongside him?

"Gratifying. We have an excellent relationship. He's a great guy. Medially, I understand he might be liked or not, some of his attitudes might not appeal to everyone, but I assure you he's a professional with a capital P and a champion who always wants to win. When he finishes second, even behind highly respectable opponents, it burns him because he's the type who every day, every week, every month tries to get closer to the best version of himself. The next 3 years together at Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe will be very important for both of us, for him as captain and for me as a domestique. Changing is simultaneously a question mark and a stimulus. We'll set clear objectives and try to achieve as many as possible, despite the new team to build and a competition level higher than ever."

What remains in your dream drawer?

"I would love to race Paris-Roubaix. It's the only World Tour race I'm missing. I've ridden it as a Junior and U23, but never as a professional. It's a desire, but not an obsession. I know it's a race that goes against my work, very risky, so I'll understand if the team prefers not to line me up. Otherwise, my objectives are all tied to my team leaders. I'd like to be in the team that wins the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia in the coming years."