EF's wonderkid "feeling better and better" after a letdown start to debut professional season

In 2025, we have seen two juniors promoted straight to WorldTour - Paul Seixas and Albert Withen Philipsen - who have both immediately adapted to the elite category. A year later, only one young rider has made the jump - the junior cyclocross world champion Mattia Agostinacchio for EF Education-EasyPost. And towards the end of June, he's yet to finish a road race.

Don't get a wrong idea, Agostinacchio's promotion certainly wasn't an outright oversight by the American team, but it's certainly true that the Italian was far from being such outstanding talent in junior ranks, when viewed through the metrics of Seixas or Philipsen.

As such, the expectations for his first road season were not through the roof, however Mattia and the team (as well as us), must've hoped for more than two DNFs at Brabatse Pijl and Eschborn-Frankfurt at this point of the season. EF sports director Sebastian Langeveld explains in an interview for bici.pro what is holding back their young promise.

"He started with us in the winter with cyclocross, immediately achieving great results, which, for his age, was truly exceptional," the Dutchman opens. "At that point, however, physical problems arose, a viral infection. He attempted to participate at the Italian championships, but he never felt truly fit and had to stop earlier than expected."

Langeveld continues: "He got sick a couple of times and couldn't regain his form, the right energy to ride. In May, we realized there was no point in persisting and chasing time; it was better to stop, get treatment, and train. Now he's regaining his form, feeling better and better, and in the coming weeks we'll decide on his racing program, then we'll see how to proceed."

The original plan included a start at the Tour of Austria in two weeks from now, but EF might opt for an "easier" return race. Later in summer, the 18-year-old should continue his stage-racing block at Tour de l'Ain and Czech Tour, followed by a trip to United States.

It's far from an ideal debut professional season for both sides, but Langeveld remains confident that it was a correct decision to bring Agostinacchio straight to WorldTour, even though the baby steps were rough.

"Of course, it's a big leap, going directly from the juniors to the WorldTour. But the idea with him had always been to combine races with the team and alternate them with WorldTour races. So, in reality, he would have raced mostly in the Under-23 races anyway."

"Due to his illness, he raced very little, one race in Belgium and the Eschborn in Frankfurt. Two very difficult races, even more so when faced with them without a parachute, thrown into the race without having been properly trained. I don't think the step was too big; he had some health-related setbacks, but I think the main thing we need to focus on is moving forward slowly, with such a young talent."

As a veteran of professional cycling, Langeveld believes that ability to cope with setbacks is one of the most important skills a young cyclist can learn.

"It was a setback in his career, sure, but it's also something young riders have to experience. These setbacks are sometimes useful for coming back stronger, but also for knowing how to deal with them in the future, because even in cycling, you don't always experience an upward trend; sometimes it's also a downward trend."

Looking closer on Agostinacchio's rider profile, Langeveld expects the Italian to grow into a force for the Classics, taking advantage of his good five-minute power and strong kick to take up a similar path to some of his cyclocross predecessors.

"I don't want to make comparisons with other riders, but I think we see many excellent road cyclists emerging in cyclocross as well. Once upon a time, there were Van der Poel and Van Aert, now we have Nys, Del Grosso, and many others. We think Mattia could be one of those guys who chooses the right races in the winter to stand out in the other seasons as well."