"I fear it will get much worse" - Matteo Trentin makes a gloomy prediction of Italy's future at the highest levels of cycling
Cycling
Italy has one of the best sprinters (Jonathan Milan) and timetrialists (Filippo Ganna) in the world. Yet Matteo Trentin can't help but notice the decreasing numbers of one of the cycling's most traditional countries. The last big successes at Grand Tours belong to riders born back in 1980s and the new generation doesn't seem to be catching up anytime soon.
"Right now Italian cycling is not in the best place, but I fear it will get much worse. There is a risk that we will not have any more at the top level in 20 years," an honest and worried Trentin tells Danish TV 2 Sport.
"It's a difficult time for Italian cycling. Years ago, cycling was mostly a European thing, but that's not the case anymore, and of course that increases the competition."
While in 2000 there were 128 Italians at the WorldTour level, 25 years later the number has significantly decreased to just 57. If we add the men with the passport of Italy at the ProTeam level, we get another 64 names, including Trentin. Which is still less than the number of WT-level riders just 25 years ago.
And with a broader base, the level of top riders will naturally become lesser too, even though that might be more of a consequence of the rise of nations like Slovenia.
"On the World Tour, it's no longer just European riders, although of course there are still many, and that increases the competition. This has been felt in Italy as well."
Can Italy hope to turn the tides in 5 or 10 years? Most likely no. Trentin points out an even more burning problem of cultivating talent on the Italian peninsula:
"Being a road cyclist in Italy is extremely dangerous, and we don't have the infrastructure for it. And there is also no healthy culture built around rider safety on the roads in Italy. It is something that politicians need to address, and it is something that needs to be taken seriously," explains the Italian.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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