"Not a step backward, but a rediscovery of the ideal dimension, especially with track cycling in mind"

This is how Martina Fidanza sums up her decision to sign a two-year contract with St.Michel Preference Home Auber93, a French ProTeam, after spending two years with none other than Visma Lease a Bike. She explains this to us after arriving in Taranto, where she will race the ITT on Saturday and the road race on Monday at the Mediterranean Games. These are the last useful opportunities, barring any last-minute needs from the Dutch squad in the final stretch of the season, to put competitive kilometers in her legs before the appointment of appointments in 2026: the Track World Championships in Shanghai in two months.

What was your time at Visma like?

"They always supported me and, really, whatever you ask for you can have. I'm satisfied with the results I've achieved here: on track, in 2025 I won prestigious gold medals like those in the team pursuit at both the European and World Championships, in recent weeks I won the Madison at the Sei Giorni in Fiorenzuola and the Italian title in the team pursuit in Turin, before having to withdraw from the national championships because I wasn't feeling well; on the road, I've won 4 of my 14 career victories, three last year and one at the beginning of 2026 (Cadel's Criterium, in Australia)".

What drove you then to change, and even drop a category compared to the World Tour?

"With great honesty toward myself, and receiving the same from the Visma team, I realized that, in order to focus on track cycling as I'll need to do over the next two seasons (2028 will be the Olympic year in Los Angeles, editor's note), I needed to find a structure that could afford to give me more space and opportunities in that regard. I'm happy to have been able to experience such a high level, where you have many people 'at your disposal' and you lack nothing, but it's equally true that each of us needs a specific context to express ourselves at our best. What I was looking for was a more familiar one, where perhaps it's easier to create bonds beyond work".

Literally, like the Italian Continental team of your father Giovanni...

"Ceratizit as well, with which I spent the three-year period before Visma, reaching the World Tour in 2024, responded to this concept of familiarity".

What do you expect now at St.Michel Preference Home Auber93?

"An environment that I really like, enriched by the experience of Alison Jackson, Clara Emond and Alicia Gonzalez, alongside whom several talented athletes, not only French, are maturing. And I'll have Gaia Segato with me, who turns professional in this team after two seasons in Top Girls and the same in Be Pink. I'm super happy and motivated!"

But first, the Mediterranean Games on the road and the World Championships on track in China with the Italian jersey: what do you ask of this end of season?

"To arrive in Shanghai in excellent form, to be able to play for the maximum that is within my current potential and to finish strong. I want to achieve this for myself, for Visma Lease a Bike which I thank, and for Fiamme Oro, the sports group of the Police that has been following me since 2019 and is fundamental to my journey".