After previously delving into how the 2026 roster was composed and what calendar choices would be made, we continued our conversation with Swatt Club President Carlo Beretta, focusing on curiosities and non-secondary aspects for the Brianza Continental team, awaiting a much more substantial and challenging season compared to the one concluded a few months ago.

Talking about structure and personnel, how will you move in 2026? Will there be any new entries?

"There will certainly be more people involved because we'll have more races to participate in. This year we only found ourselves engaged in two races simultaneously, next year it will happen more often and we'll therefore need more support. The staff will be a bit more substantial and structured with 3 masseurs who will rotate, 3 physiotherapists and a fixed mechanic (plus 2-3 on call), while I'll be the joker and do a bit of everything. We also have many registered members and amateurs who, when needed, are willing to come and help us doing anything and this is a great fortune".

Who will be in the team car?

"Brambo (Giorgio Brambilla, ed) wanted to continue with our project even though this is not his first job and he does it for pure pleasure: he will be our reference DS. Along with him we'll have Casper Kaysen, a very young Danish guy from 2002 who will do many races with us focusing on Danish races closer to his home and longer races, and Lorenzo Peschi who finished racing in 2025 and joined us at the last minute in November. He's a fresh, studious guy in line with our mentality. He has no experience in the car but for me that's not a problem because we're all here to do it and the guys have already understood this this year. Maybe we'll make some mistakes but we need to be flexible from this point of view and then I like the idea of having such a young average age in the car".

From the roster to the staff, you have an environment packed with Danes: how does your relationship with the riders and the movement of this nation arise and develop?

"It mainly starts with Hellemose: since he arrived in Swatt, this connection with Denmark was immediately born. When we went to the Danish national championships in 2024, we had already noticed that we were starting to have some following there, but after his signing with us everything was amplified. With Kasper Andersen then, winner of the Torino-Biella (our first UCI race) and a guy known in the North because he was a junior European champion, this bond was consolidated. Thanks to these two particular stories, but also because we are a fresh, new project and we have excellent materials, they became passionate about our way of doing things. This is proven by the fact that a few months ago, in one week I received about 30 requests from Danish riders, including three from Continental teams and all those from the Unibet Rose Rockets who, apparently informed by Asbjørn or someone else, knew we still had some spots for 2026".

Are they very different from Italian guys?

"Basically, the Danes are guys who love Italy and who, in my opinion, it's really cool to try to 'Italianize'. They ask questions about everything, from components to the program, and they are really particular. They'll drive you crazy about aerodynamics and marginal gains, they have a material culture on another level. They told me that for them, at an amateur level, guys choose which team to ride for by first checking what wheels and bikes they can race with and then the calendar or compensation. This is their way of thinking (but it must be said that they also live in a different reality). In Italy it's the opposite and guys aren't used to these things. The Danes are the first to pressure you asking, for example, if you can give them a 30" tire and are forced to come to terms with it if you can't, while Italians come out with a template and, from this point of view, are 'yes-men': if you put a 28 or 26 tire on them, they'll always say 'ok'".

Speaking of materials, in 2025 you were supported by top-level brands: who will support you this year?

"All partnerships from last year have been confirmed for 2026 because, in the end, those who invested in us have quintupled their return in terms of visibility. On our part, obviously, we can only be more than happy to continue with certain brands by our side because this way, in terms of materials, we can be super on point. There will also be some new entries not strictly related to performance: Dynamic Bike Care for chain waxing and, fundamentally, Rocket Espresso for coffee. That said, I wouldn't mind finding a pasta or rice brand because the guys consume an absolutely crazy amount and it would be ideal for us".

What you created in 2025 had a significant impact and greatly expanded Swatt Club's resonance: how are the guys from your community - which it's worth remembering is not just about cycling but also running, triathlon and winter sports - connected to the activity that you and the elite team carry out, and vice versa?

"I'll tell you only that this year the amateurs told me they were stopped at fountains by people asking if they were from the Italian champion team, a question that gave many of them emotional charge and training motivation for months. Other times I asked the elite guys to go to Veneto or elsewhere to participate in some rides with amateurs and it happened that, ending up pulling each other's necks more than once, both sides had a lot of fun. In general, we try to keep a relationship between them as natural as possible. For the elite, it's nice to feel such support and cheering, a bit in a football style, which sometimes goes a bit over the top but is part of the game, while the amateur, thanks to the elite, manages to be involved to the point of now, for example, not being able to wait to wear the jersey with UCI Continental Team written on it. In the end, as we always say: there are no differences. If people mistake an amateur for a Continental roster rider, I don't care, in fact, it's perfect because then we end up being all the same thing, which is the truth: both elite and amateurs, in their own way, all train, make sacrifices and participate in races to have fun and because they love competition. Saying 'there are no differences' is the simplest way to see things and break down the barriers of sports elitism that, in my and our opinion, must be torn down: sport, and also competition, is the same for everyone, some go faster and some go slower, but in the end everyone does the same thing".

In the post you made on your Solowattaggio blog about obtaining the Continental license, you talk about WorldTour as a "dream".

"It essentially has been since 2017 when we opened the ASD with the claim 'Road to WorldTour' and went to gran fondos as if it were the Tour de France. It's a dream because it's what we see, what we imitate and what we hope for, even if, to be honest, in my opinion we would never experience the same emotions we feel in our current situation. Being a team with a limited budget and having the opportunity to clash against WorldTour squads, a bit like a provincial team finding itself playing at San Siro, is a wonderful sensation to experience and it would be nice to remain in this sort of adolescence forever".

But how realistic is it?

"Seeing how budgets rise each season, in two years you would need at least 50 million so I'd say it's unrealistic. The problem, or the absurdity, that I notice, however, does not only concern the WorldTour transition. We are now a Continental team and can remain so forever with an equal budget (or, if we want, even slightly lower), return to Club status like in 2025 by doing a good calendar or, if we wanted to move up a level, think about becoming a ProTeam. But is it really feasible if, with the huge gap that exists today, you have to go from a budget of 200 thousand to one of 7-10 million and not from 700 thousand or 2 million? In light of all this, going back to the dream issue, I believe this will remain such for a while. For us, however, it's fine like this because where we are now we still have fun".

Moreover, I believe that having a certain type of thinking helps to live the entire season in a certain way. Dreams are what fuel passion, desires, sometimes they are the fuel for certain victories, so it's also nice to dream big precisely to have that kind of push that is not insignificant.

"Exactly, that's precisely what I told the guys in December when we first met. Our beauty, for now, is that we are standing not thanks to external entities but thanks to ourselves, to people who go to work from Monday to Friday but are passionate about the Swatt world and who, through clothing and crowdfunding, support the project. All this gives the guys an incredible push to the point that now, in January, there are people writing to me saying they already can't wait to race and if this happens at this time of year, it's something special".

To discover the last interesting part of the interview given to us by Beretta regarding costs and profits in cycling, the growing gap between teams working with the Professional Cycling League, we invite you to listen to the episode of our Bla Bla Bike podcast coming out on Monday, January 26th.