MAPEI SPORT AND TREK-SEGAFREDO IN COLLABORATION FOR THE YOUTH PROJECT

Trek-Segafredo has announced a new project which will involve its collaboration with Elite U23 and Juniores teams. As Luca Guercilena (General Manager of the team) has said, this is a great opportunity for the team and the young cyclists because the collaboration will create a network of Under-23 teams, in which the young athletes can grow and mature in their natural talents, with the aim of being able to enter the world of professional cycling in the Trek-Segafredo Team in the future.

Part of this project comes from the collaboration with Mapei Sport, at the Research Centre in Olgiate Olona, which backed the project straight away and where the selected athletes underwent preliminary screening to determine the efficiency of their cardiovascular and respiratory system with the VO₂ max test and to identify their anaerobic threshold, useful parameters with which to measure the young athletes potential.

Finding young talent is not easy, says Andrea Morelli Mapei Sport’s Head of Cycling: “Often, professional teams find themselves picking their team members on the basis of the number of wins in the youth category, without meeting the athlete or knowing how they train, who trains them and, most importantly, what their “physiological values” are. There are several factors that contribute to achieving results and, while motivation and the desire to win are obviously among these, if you don’t have the legs for it, even if you have the right frame of mind, you get left behind, says Morelli. It’s quite common to see big winners make it as professionals and then lose their ability to compete, while “less successful” athletes who had great qualities, if given the chance, manage to reach excellent levels. We realise that not everyone needs to become a Cadel Evans, an Ivan Basso or a Vincenzo Nibali. But these champions do need assistants who support them throughout the stages of grand tours and lead them to victory or who expertly guide them in their sprints.”

Thanks to the experience and the database of information gathered by Mapei Sport in the last 20 years, this type of project is aimed at providing high-level support to scout new talent, perhaps among those athletes with less of a winning reputation in the youth categories and, together with the Trek-Segafredo Team, to help them grow and maximise the development of their psychological and physical qualities.

Some of these young athletes will participate in the Trek-Segafredo Team training camp, which will take place in the Alps over the next few weeks. The following 11 young athletes have been chosen to take part: