The laborious procedures that Swatt Club has had to deal with in recent months have certainly taken more time and effort than expected, but in the end, they have borne fruit. On January 9th, the team that won the last Italian Championship with Filippo Conca was able to announce obtaining the long-awaited Continental license for the 2026 season.

This news is quite significant for the domestic cycling scene. With the inclusion of the blue team in the third tier, Italy now matches China as the country with the most Continental teams currently registered with the UCI. It clearly represents an important step for the Brianza team, which, thanks to this promotion, will be able to elevate the level of its calendar in the coming months, bringing its riders to compete in national and international races at both .1 and .Pro levels.

With these changes, the challenges, the quality of opponents, and media exposure will be significantly greater for the men of President Carlo Beretta, whom we interviewed to discuss the upcoming year for Swatt Club and more.

Let's start with the current situation, namely obtaining the Continental license for 2026. This is an upgrade that opens very interesting scenarios for you, but as you've hinted, it wasn't simple to achieve.

"Exactly. The difficulties arose because this was our first affiliation, and as Swatt, being self-funded, we are a unique reality. Despite everything, however, we managed to take this step, and in this regard, I must thank everyone who helped me, including the people from the Federation who were super open and helped me with the documentation, understanding, like everyone else, that it would benefit to have a team like ours among the Continental squads".

What changes for you?

"From an competitive perspective, this transition changes little because the team will have the same setup as 2025 and because I was confirmed in the last year that the difference between Continental and club level isn't that significant. The real difference is that, although it's possible to create a good calendar even as a club, the new license will give us the opportunity to do more important races like the Giro dell'Appennino (which is already confirmed) and, especially, the two races we said it was worth going crazy for: the Tour of Denmark (for which we've already received an invitation) and the Coppa Agostoni".
What does the Coppa Agostoni represent for you and Swatt? 
"It's the race that passes five meters from our headquarters and, personally, it's the first race I ever saw when I was 5-6 years old, from the balcony with my grandmother. For me, it has a unique value. It's also an event that has historically always had great champions at the start, a race where we've always gone to cheer and that deserves more public than it has because it's truly hard and beautiful. In short, it's an emotional bond that ties us to the Agostoni." 
Before arriving at the Agostoni, will you start your season in Greece again? 
"Yes. We'll spend three weeks there, first attaching our number at the Visit South Aegean, Region on Dodecanese (two 1.1 races) and Tour of Rhodes, which already confirmed our invitation in October and where we felt great last year. Generally speaking, we'll more or less repeat all the races we did in 2025 because we liked them, and we'll add some new ones like the Olympia's Tour at the end of March in the Netherlands, a country where, like Belgium, we've never raced before. The choice is linked to the fact that in this season's roster we have northern riders like Olivo and Mads Andersen."

I imagine this will be a very interesting first time that will help you understand your level even better.

"Regarding the level, I can say that last year, before starting this adventure, we didn't have a clear idea of where we could position ourselves. Now we are definitely more aware of where we stand. With one more year of experience, I've better understood the differences between categories, and I can say that this season, considering the profiles we have in the team, we are perhaps even stronger than in 2025 in absolute terms."

The names that will make up the Continental team for 2026 are already known, but how many applications did you receive through the forum you posted on your channels, and how did you select the riders you ultimately chose?

"We received tons of requests, between 600 and 700 from all over the world. I thought I would receive most applications from riders in their last years of Under 23 or first years of élite, but most came from riders in their first years of Under 23 or last years of juniors. In the end, I can say that the file with applications was full of great engines, but ultimately this year we didn't choose anyone from there. We spoke with about ten of them, even did tests with a Hungarian rider to verify his values, but in conclusion, even though we could have picked many riders, we selected people who contacted us directly by phone or message whose name spoke for itself. This is the case, for example, of Oioli, Olivo, Lorenzo Galimberti, and Andersen himself, who wrote or called me personally, perhaps after asking some of the guys already with us if there was a spot. I won't hide that we could have taken many other riders and made an even stronger team, but we also had to deal with regulations. Stokbro, for instance, a rider we wanted for gravel, would have liked to be included in the road team because he has two years of World Tour and three years in ProTeam squads, but it wasn't possible because, as a Continental team, I can only have sixteen riders, six of whom must be Under 23, and he is 29 years old. It's a shame, but that's how it is - we'll only see him in gravel."

Talking about Oioli and Olivo, how did you find these two riders? Were you surprised not to see them at a higher level?

"No, I'm not surprised they're not among the pros: spots are few, the level is flattened towards the top, and there are so many talented young riders that it's normal for many good riders to be left behind. Our riders, with only three ProTeam teams plus MBH Bank (which has a Hungarian license but we can consider it Italian), where can they go? In the WorldTour, there's no space anymore... I certainly thought they would find a spot in other amateur or our-level teams, but from our perspective, I'm happy they ended up with us because when I spoke to them on the phone, I immediately understood there could be the right chemistry. With everyone, from new riders to those who joined us last year, I felt like I was talking to the same person because they all brought out the same ideas and motivations. Each of them wants, first and foremost, to rediscover the feelings from when they were children, the pure passion for sport and competition, the desire to ride a bike because they like it and not because it has to become a job. This changes things a lot. Olivo and Oioli, from this perspective, I now see them as highly determined."

What can you tell us about Mads Andersen? How did his relationship with Swatt begin?

"Mads is friends with Kasper Andersen, and the Danes, including Asbjørn (Hellemose), had always spoken highly of him. He got in touch with us this summer because he came to race the Swatt Crit (our social race with amateurs) in July, after Conca's victory at the Italian Championship, and on that occasion, since he was already there, I told him to do a two-week training camp, and he fell in love with the entire environment. In September-October, we then reached an agreement."

What kind of athlete is he?

"He's a type of rider we didn't have last year and has the potential to do great things. He has always grown gradually, and the results he achieved this year, winning the GP Van Looy and other .2 races, quite impressed me. Honestly, I thought some ProTeam would make him a concrete offer because if you win certain types of races, it means you're strong, but nothing more than some contacts happened. He did receive offers from other Continental teams, but at that point, he preferred to embark on this new adventure with us. He's a rider who, given his weight (90 kilos), astronomical watts, and background (he worked in a butcher shop, which is why he's called "the butcher"), truly has something special."

To officially unveil the 2026 roster in its entirety, will you (and if so, when) make an announcement like last year where riders were presented like soccer players?

"We'll launch the roster in mid-February when we'll be in Girona. We won't have soccer jerseys, but something similar that, in our style, will recall the 2000s. However, I can confidently confirm that, in addition to the new names communicated in recent weeks (besides Oioli, Andersen, and Olivo, also Edoardo Bolzan, Francesco Collovà, Jacopo Galimberti, Daniele Locatelli, Thomas Rigamonti), the roster will still include Carollo, Pettiti, Ginestra, Garavaglia and Kasper Andersen. With them, there will also be Jack Rootkin-Gray, fourth-placed at the Glasgow Worlds in the Under 23 category: after two years with EF, he was left without a team and is currently sidelined due to an injury he suffered in September in Italy, but he should return by June-July. We don't yet know in what condition he'll be and when we'll integrate him into the roster, but I can tell you that he will definitely be with us this year."

Did you contact him, or did he get in touch with Swatt through someone?

"It happened as increasingly occurs nowadays: riders start following you on Instagram, give some likes, and then you understand they need a team. I recognize this instantly now. Jack in particular wrote a message to our page, already in August and September, saying he wanted to understand more about our team. At that point, I made a couple of calls to understand the situation, he asked if he could join us, and I told him to come do some gravel races and then we'd see, based on his feelings, if he could return to road racing. Honestly, I couldn't say no to him. He told me - a speech I've heard from many others before him - that he wasn't enjoying himself as he did in his previous team, the Saint-Pirain, where in 2023 he had a great season. In any case, we're talking about a rider who, to finish fourth at a U23 World Championship, is certainly not inactive, so it's a great pleasure to have him on the team, and we sincerely hope we can field him in some road races too."

But this will be confirmed from summer onwards, right?

"Absolutely. He told me he wants to take at least until June to return without rushing and recover well from the injury, and I, from this perspective, gave him complete freedom of choice."

To read the second part of the interview with Carlo Beretta, which will be published soon, stay connected to www.tuttobiciweb.it.

Photo Credit: Swatt Club