Sergio Meris was one of the great protagonists of the Oscar tuttobici 2024, an incredible season that had led him to win the coveted award in the elite category. After 4 years in the now defunct Colpack, his journey among the professionals had begun, with many dreams, many projects and many hopes that the Unibet Rose Rockets team had welcomed with open arms, fueling them with all the enthusiasm possible. The twenty-five-year-old from Bergamo had fit perfectly into the team's unconventional mechanisms, had decided to learn as much as possible, but also to put himself at the service of his teammates, contributing to important placements.

Two years into that beautiful adventure, suddenly the dream shattered, no more plans, no more prospects, just a "thank you and goodbye, there's no more room in the team". We meet Sergio Meris on the other side of the world at the Tour de Langkawi, where the fatigue of the end of season mixes with atrocious heat that leaves no moment to breathe. The Malaysian race had already begun when the team communicated to him that there would be no contract waiting for him for 2027, he had sensed something, yet there was hope to continue working with a special group. "In this team I felt at home right away, they made me grow a lot, they bet on me and I'm sorry they've decided to take a different path. I hoped until the end, but now it's a fact: for next year I don't have a team. The most terrible scenario comes to mind, but I don't want to think about it. I would like to find a Professional team, maybe race more in Italy, it took me a lot to get to this point and I don't want to give up. I have room to grow and I know I can help the team." Meris tells us, with whom we tried to take stock of his seasons as a pro.

 "Last year was very difficult, it was my first year, my first experience and I had to get my bearings, I quickly understood that something was missing. The team provided me with good foundations to start from, but above all it gave me great motivation, they understood there was potential. My body started responding well to recovery, I managed the mileage and multi-day races better and little by little the values started to grow." If 2025 could be considered a trial year, this season he took part in top-level races, he tried the thrill of the World Tour and those monument classics that as a child he had always dreamed of. Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, Amstel Gold Race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, just to name the most significant ones, and in each of these he worked hard for the team. He had always watched them on television and being there represented not only confirmation of his growth, but the drive to want to give even more. "Despite the fact that this is ending in a not so beautiful way, I'm happy with my experience, I not only improved in my values, but I understood what it means to be a real rider and what I can really work on. I took part in legendary races, I helped my teammates, I gave everything and I found myself racing events that I had only imagined."

 From 2025 to 2026, the Unibet Rockets team strengthened itself, the level within the team grew thanks to the addition of strong personalities like Dylan Groenewegen and Wout Poels. If until that moment the team was made up of many independent riders with the possibility of playing their own cards, the scheme changed completely. A precise structure, a well-consolidated train for the Dutch sprinter and a formation no longer attacking but in support of one, at most two captains. "Compared to last year, the level in the team has risen a lot, we've all grown, but for hybrid riders like me it meant having less space and working more, I'm not a pure sprinter nor a climber. All this has positive sides because you can adapt to any type of terrain, but on the other hand it's also negative: in a structured team with a single plan you can only work for others and rarely have your opportunities. You work hard for the entire race, but then by the numbers you don't have placements, yet you've pulled for the entire race. In such competitive cycling you always have to give 110%, be at your best, otherwise you're out." Then came the wild card for the Giro, a total celebration for the team and a dream for Meris, as the only Italian in the squad, to try to have a spot. "Not being called up for the Giro was a hard blow, when we got the wild card my first thought, as an Italian, was that I had a chance and instead other choices were made. They were aiming to win stages in a sprint and that's not really my terrain. After the initial great disappointment I took it as a lesson, it was a push to work even harder, not everything can always go according to plan, it's a working world and you need to aim for the best possible profit," Meris told us, and in the following months he rolled up his sleeves even further to help, making himself available in every possible race.

Even in Malaysia, Sergio never held back, perhaps in Europe from daily summaries it wasn't seen much, but we assure you that in both climbing and flat stages he was always there. Although his thoughts were elsewhere, on that uncertain future, he never failed to contribute to his teammates who then finished in fifth and tenth place overall. Meris continued to pedal with determination, aware of his uncertain future, but clinging to the idea that there would be his dream race to take part in. Tomorrow he will be at the start of the Lombardia, from his Bergamo to Como, the home race, the one he had dreamed of for years. "I'm trying to fully experience these remaining races because they could be the last of my career. The Lombardia is the race I dreamed of as a child, I would like to race it without thinking about anything else, just giving my best and enjoying it. Only the day after will I start thinking about my career, if there will be a place for me somewhere, if the dream will continue or not..." In some way it will be a circle closing even if we hope it's only partially. There will no longer be the Unibet team waiting for him, but perhaps there will be another team ready to step forward and believe in his dreams.