Even before winning or losing, cycling is about answering “present!”. And that’s what I’ve been doing since 21st February 2021, the date on which 55.90% of the votes from the elective assembly chose to entrust me with the Presidency of the Italian Cycling Federation. A much desired goal, but which for me was only a starting point. The real adventure is the one I’ve been experiencing for over two years, in which I’ve tried to leave my mark on a movement I’ve always been part of, first as a fan, then as an athlete and again as a manager. What binds me to cycling is a deep feeling, born when I was a child. But I also know that my role imposes great responsibilities: everything must be weighed and thought out, because I am at the head of an important and anything but small Federation. A large family made up of many components – road, off-road, para-cycling and track – which adopts common methodologies and works with a single goal, which is to make Italian cycling great.

The satisfactions so far have not been lacking: in the sixteen years prior to my management, the average number of medals in a year was 45.3. On the other hand, in the first year we raised the bar to 97 metals, which reached 130 last year. Not to mention the Olympic and Paralympic triumphs, the flagship of a governance that aims ever higher.

But the real victory is the new approach I wanted to give to the National Teams, because success never comes by chance: a new organization of the technical sector to which we have made all possible tools available, investing more resources and paying greater attention to the needs techniques. An increasingly compact movement, thanks to the rediscovered idea of being all part of a single team. When people ask me what the secret of our victories is, I like to say that it is the climate that has been created within a large working group, made up of qualified people with specific skills in the various sectors of responsibility capable of making a concrete contribution.

What I have seen born and grow in my two years of Presidency is a new mentality that enhances teamwork and expands the very concept of multidisciplinarity, no longer required only of athletes, but which also starts from working closely at the level of technical management.

There is a lot we are working on and a lot we will work even more: the commitment on the issue of road safety, the work of promotion at 360 degrees, the opening to “new” forms of cycling such as Randonnée and Esports, investments in facilities and major races. A Federation that today has a new look and a new image, accompanied by important partners who have chosen to accompany us along this exciting journey. Improving certainly won’t be easy, but we have an obligation to keep trying.

• Organization of the National Team as a Professional Team
• More resources for high-level activity;
• Greater attention to the technical needs of athletes
• Bus available to national teams
• Team performance birth;
• Relaunch of the speed sector

• 2021 budget close with a profit with significant surplus despite higher expenses due to the Olympics and the complete resumption of activity after the pandemic;
• Increase of assets of the FCI, with important resources available to the Federation for special projects;
• Increase in the resources available to the Regional Committees, encouraged to use the contributions deriving from the central Federation through the financing of projects;
• Increase in revenues deriving from sponsorship activities with the not secondary effect of having ‘cleaned’ the National Team Jersey: space available for any main sponsor;
• Contribution to the organizing companies (500,000 euros) to encourage the organization of competitions;
• Agreement with ANAS to facilitate the issuance of authorizations;
• Remodeling of the project for the construction of the Spresiano Velodrome
• Allocation of PNRR funds to the ‘Olympic Training Center of the FCI’ project in Montichiari;

(which in 2022 marked an increase in members and affiliated companies, back to 2017 levels)

• Rationalization and reorganization of the FCI offices;
• Federation new warehouse and renewal of the fleet available to National teams and committees;
• Modification of the Training sector with the birth of the Technical School;
• Rationalization of the activities of the Start-up Centers, with the recognition of greater resources at their disposal;
• Redefinition of the list of Cycling School with the deletion of those that were not operational or that did not meet the parameters indicated and the insertion of new ones;
• Openness to ‘new’ forms of cycling, such as Randonee and Esport (birth of the first esport circuit, which opens new horizons for membership and marketing);
• 3R project in the amateur sector: certification of granfondo;
• Launch of a membership campaign, which will be further strengthened during the year with the help of a communication agency;

• New supplier of leisure clothing;
• New Logo of the FCI following a competition in which over 500 subjects from all over the world participated;
• Renewed look of the Giro d’Onore;
• Improved the communication activity of the National Teams during international events;

• Itinerant federal councils, to make people feel close to the territory and to establish relations with Local Entities;
• Commitment to bring Ukrainian cyclists to Italy and for their activity;
• Security proposals;
• Standardize throughout the Italian territory the procedures for issuing the authorization for the organization of competitions
• Lega Commissioner and reform of the same
• Re-established relations with institutions for security (Interior Minister), regulatory and fiscal aspects (Sports Minister), recognition of Cycling-tour Guides (Tourism Minister)
• Closer relations with RCS and ASO during the Grand Tours
• Assignment for the next 5 years of Giro U23 and Giro Donne to RCS which ensures organizational quality and a series of economic advantages for youth activity.