Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli in "situation of standby" as team struggles to find necessary finances
Cycling
Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli is one of the oldest teams in the peloton, and has had several denominations over the decades. In the end of 2022 however, the team is once again on the ropes, struggling to find the necessary means to keep racing at the level it has for the past few years.
At the Giro del Veneto, which concluded the season of many Italian riders, Cyclingnews talked to the manager of the long-standing team, who explained the situation: "They came in with big ideas. We said: ‘Careful, let’s move gradually'." He's referring to the new team sponsor Drone Hopper who's taken the main name title, but is currently not being able to provide the means for the team to keep it's budget.
"They’re good people at Drone Hopper but, unfortunately, it’s a start-up company. They would like to continue sponsoring us, but they don’t have the means at the moment," he revealed. "They tell me they’re starting to earn money and that they will be able to pay us, but I said I need a guarantee."
Such guarrantee would require a higher budget for the team to be able to keep it's Pro Team level in 2023. Andrea Piccolo who has moved on to EF Education-EasyPost and has thrived in the late-season classics, and Jefferson Alexander Cepeda left the team in August as the team looked for a breather in terms of salary, thus being unable to keep it's best riders.
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"We have a bank guarantee of €350,000, but that doesn’t bring you far with a team at this level and I certainly don’t want to tie myself to that risk. That’s the situation we’re in – we’re in a situation of standby. It’s not true that we’ve decided not to continue, but it’s also not certain that we will continue," Savio continued.
"Given that Drone Hopper is in difficulty, we have to find an alternative solution – that is, a replacement sponsor. Otherwise, we won’t continue because it’s continuous stress. You can’t keep the squad going properly with all these economic issues to worry about. It’s stressful. But stress is a friend of mine that accompanies me every day," he added however, aware of the other difficult seasons the team has endured in the past, even in this subject.
"Two and a half months ago, we held a conference call and we told everybody – riders, directors, soigneurs, mechanics – that they were free to sign with other teams," Savio admitted. “Almost everybody’s contract was up at the end of this year, but it was about being correct. If we continue the team and they don’t find a place somewhere else, then we’ll talk. But nobody can say that he lost a possibility because Savio led him on.”
Savio has admitted the possibility of holding the team at Continental level in 2023, which would certainly alleviate much of the current pressure. It would however require taking the step back up sooner or later. “That would mean having a team of smaller dimensions, perhaps made up of young riders. But it would have to be a real project, not just any old Continental team with riders from this place or that," he said however, justifying the struggle in moving forward with that idea at the time being.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
- I also wanne beat Pogacar in the tour but it aint gonne happen. Jonas unfortunately getting dropped by del toro and seixas several times this TDF and jonas team is very weak and joinas on way down, it aint happening thats clear. its also clear it only happened cause Pogacar was hurt and had a broken wrist that time everytime both full strenght its not close we just have to be honest about it :/miguel07-11-2026
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- Looking at that photo she appears to be several feet from her. I’m not sure how that impeded brands sprint.mij07-11-2026
- Lucky to not get disqualified
leedorney07-11-2026
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