"The world is made of stairs, there are those who go down and those who go up" goes an ancient saying. Speaking in cycling terms, a clear and unequivocal upward trajectory can be observed both in Italy and France, where we encounter the analogy of the transition of Tommaso Dati and Louka Lesueur from a continental team to a World Tour squad. It's like going from third division to first division without passing through the second tier, "amateurs" Filippo Conca might jokingly call them, to whom the feat succeeded of sitting at the table of a Michelin-starred restaurant after leaving the Swatt Club, an economical osteria, agreed, but certainly revalued the moment the Milanese thought it wise to win an Italian national jersey among professionals, while still being a cycloamateur.

We remember Dati, second on the podium of the 2026 Italian championship in Cuneo, perfectly at ease alongside a certain Jonathan Milan and Alessandro Romele, whom we would come to know at the Vuelta. The 2026 of the boy from Camaiore cannot be read through the distorting lens of his personal story alone, however evident Tommaso's merits may be, it tells rather of the ability of a continental team—in this case Team Ukyo—to exploit every calendar slot offered to it, starting from the awareness of the dimension it inhabits, whether we're talking about the economic treatment accorded to riders, budgets cut to the bone, races frequented without the prestige of professionalism, even though among the 2.2 races a large number of development squads have arrived.

From a scouting perspective, sounding the depths of "minor" cycling can be exhausting, but it's worth it even when most efforts are directed toward developing young talent. Our Dati and Lesueur, whose Ukyo equivalent is called VC Rouen, partially disrupt the caste system that structures the elite scene: both seized the opportunities when they shared a race with renowned professionals. The magical spring of the 24-year-old Tuscan, between a stage victory at Coppi e Bartali and another success at the Tour of the Alps, is the manifesto of how certain barriers between categories can crumble, precisely while other riders coming from the continental world make a prestigious step up (Raccani to Polti VisitMalta, Iacomoni to Bardiani Csf 7 Saber, Lorello from Padovani to Uae Team Gen Z).

One might say, and it's true, that not all continental teams compared to Ukyo have enriched their season with prestigious race participations like the Trentino race or a Milano-Torino. And Lesueur? The 22-year-old born in the same town as Jacques Anquetil, Mont-Saint-Aignan, appeared on the radar of Picnic Post Nl in quite an unusual way, as Conca might say, even though he wore the French champion's jersey among "amateurs", without that is touching those of world tour teams. Yet, beyond shining in national races, good Louka seized the chances offered to him when he lined up at prestigious race starts (stage victory at Circuit des Ardennes, another success in the time trial at Kreiz-Breizh Elite). Now, like Tommaso Dati, the young Frenchman can sing the ode to apprenticeship.