Alessio Salvadeo has done it... and has no intention of stopping.

For two years we have been keeping you updated on the quite peculiar cycling life of this young man, a Milanese from Casorezzo born in 2005, who finds his childhood dream in the bicycle and his full realization in velodromes: spring-summer on the road with Igino Andreis' Trentino team, autumn-winter between Italy and the Netherlands with Six-Five-Four-Three-Two Day races and some European championships here and there; road outings with amateurs from the area, track training in Busto Garolfo with Fabrizio Di Somma (practically an uncle to him) until the untimely passing of the Italian coach last year, and now with his dad-coach Roberto Salvadeo, a former track rider himself; the valuable technical support of Christian Dagnoni, brother of federation president Cordiano, and advice from his friend Fabio Perego, technical manager of the track cycling sector of the Italian Cycling Federation and much more.

After three podiums in 2025, here comes his first Under 23 victory at the start of the track season, in the specialty he loves most, and which all the more binds him to central-northern Europe: the stayer, a middle-distance event behind a motorcycle that combines adrenaline and endurance. In the GP Groot Wintercompetitie, in Alkmaar, piloted by Jos Raateland, one of the many Dutch friends Alessio has made during this three-year period, the Lombard rider managed the "pole position" perfectly, won the duel with Rick Groeneweg by overtaking him with 5 laps to go. Completing the podium was the multi-European champion of the specialty Reinier Honig.

It was Tuesday, October 27 and young Salvadeo had a particular motivation to perform well: there were observers from the Australian-Belgian Continental team Atom 6 Bikes, who after previous conversations were convinced that day to sign him for 2027. Thus Alessio's desire to race regularly in Belgium is realized: «I will live in the team house and will be able to have a calendar in a different part of Europe. I'm still young, but it will be my fourth U23 season and I want it to be the year of growth on both fronts. Consolidate myself in the stayer and be able to have my say in increasingly important races, not disdaining the ability to race with objectives and personal satisfaction also on the road. I won't waste any of this Belgian opportunity and it will be a year "on fire" in every way!»

In the meantime, in the short term, Tuesday Salvadeo will return to Alkmaar where he will take part in a stayer and a madison, paired with Daan Aberson with whom he will then participate in the Six Days of Rotterdam in the first week of December. Next year, in his sights are stayers in the Italian national jersey: Europeans in Berlin in February, more likely, and the magnificent prospect of the Super World Championships in Haute-Savoie, where the stayer returns to the world calendar after the World Championships in Palermo in 1994.

We continue our conversation with this athlete full of motivation, smiles and seriousness, tempered as a Junior by the «positive rigidity» of sports director Luca Colombo in the Casalese Armofer of Stefano Cinerari, with a question as direct as it is significant: can you make a living as a pure track rider without being in a sports group of armed forces? Answer: «You need to be strong enough to race (well) many Six Days and accumulate appearance fees and prize money, while also managing to perform well on the road».

We conclude with a less uncomfortable question, though it carries with it some melancholy for Italian fans of the track that once was: what sensations do the Six Days, or however many days they may be, create in Belgium, Holland and beyond? «I'll just tell you that there are people who may not be passionate about cycling, but who come to watch you as they would go to see a concert...»