Fifty years after the triumph of Massimo Santambrogio in Campagnano di Roma, the Italian junior road title returns to Seregno. The achievement is signed by Matteo Jacopo Gualtieri, 16 years old from Monza, who in Laives, on the outskirts of Bolzano, accomplished the most brilliant feat of his still young career: the conquest of the national jersey with the colors of Salus Seregno De Rosa of Marco Moretto. A success that adds to a simply extraordinary season. Gualtieri had already become Italian champion seven days earlier in Cross Country, and previously in Short Track MTB, in Team Relay MTB (Mixed Relay) and in Mixed Cyclocross Relay. A string of titles that tells the story of the versatility, solidity and growth of a talent now recognized at the national level. In Laives, the Brianza rider materialized his sporting magic by beating his breakaway companion Marco Casetta, from the Veneto region of Sacilese, in a sprint at the end of an intense race, tactically flawless and managed with surprising maturity. On the third step of the podium stood Giulio Vitali from the Marche region of Ethica Zero24 Cycling Team. A result that is not just a title: it is a return to history, an ideal bridge between generations, a new chapter for Salus Seregno De Rosa and for the entire Lombard cycling movement.

"I started thinking – and hoping – that I could finish in the top five, maybe get on the podium," says Gualtieri, who studies at the Scientific High School of Applied Sciences in Monza. "Honestly, I didn't imagine it could end like this. I wanted to make the race hard and try to slip into some attacks, but at the beginning I struggled to stay in the front positions of the group. I was also involved in a couple of crashes, fortunately without consequences. I had in mind to attack, but on the last climb Casetta beat me to it: the Santuaria, 650 meters with double-digit gradients, repeated seven times. I attacked right away too and we worked together until the last kilometer. When I saw that the three chasers weren't far away, to prevent them from catching up I put myself in front to pull. I waited until the last moment to launch the sprint, more or less at 150 meters, and I managed to win".

For father Fabio and mother Lucia Bernardi it was an incredible emotion, the pure joy of seeing their son wear the national jersey that Salus had been missing for fifty years.