"My way of doing things is a lot more romantic than modern cycling allows" - Veteran De Marchi looking for 2023 contract

Alessandro De Marchi and Thomas de Gendt were two of the best breakaway specialists in the 2010's, and as new generations come up the block, they are fighting for results. De Marchi in specific, is fighting for a new contrsct.

“I’m waiting for something to move and for certain things to fall into place to try to find somewhere," De Marchi told Cyclingnews at the recent Giro del Veneto. The Italian has had several strong wins over the years, but in 2022 he only found his form now in October, with 7th and 5th in the Gravel World Championships and Giro del Veneto respectively.

“My way of doing things is a lot more romantic than modern cycling allows,” De Marchi said then. “Maybe my style isn’t the most practical. There have been races where I spent the day in the break and got caught, and I was still happier with those than races where I got a placing," he said. De Marchi has gotten most of his career's biggest results out of breakaways in hilly days, including three wins at the Vuelta a Espana.

2022 however proved to be a complicated year. “This season, I was ready to carry on from how I finished last year, because I’d shown that I’d sorted myself out after the crash and recovered from it,” the 36-year old continued. “But what happened was that COVID and two other illnesses in the spring blocked me, and I had to start again from zero right before the Giro d’Italia. There wasn’t a real, 100% recovery. That’s only come about now in this last part of the season – but obviously it’s October, and that’s a bit late.”

He has managed to show some results, which he is hoping were enough to prove he's worthy of continuing in the World Tour. Part of Israel - Premier Tech, his team is set to relegate into Pro Team level - and in this case, have only automatic wildcards to the World Tour's one-day races. Hoping for certainties and a better calendar, he is looking to find a contract.

“For me, the issue of being WorldTour doesn’t change what’s on the table. At the moment, riding here is a possibility too, but I’m waiting for it to solidify in some way," he says, revealing that staying with the Israeli team is possible. Late in the game it won't be easy to strike big, however the veteran remains hopeful.

“It certainly wasn’t an easy thing to deal with, and we did our best," he said of the team's relegation, placed last out of all World Tour teams throughout the past three seasons. "Some seasons can be good and others less good. Unfortunately, we’ve run into in a negative season, and it’s come at a bit of a delicate moment. The team has had to face up to a very difficult and stressful situation, that’s inevitable. Nobody can deny that the second part of the season was very difficult.”

“OK, this year, in the end, I have an additional motivation, but the substance of my approach doesn’t change: when I have something to give, I try to race on the attack and play my hand no matter what. And I’m sure that if I get another contract, I’ll be able to continue doing that without problems. I have no doubts about that," De Marchi concluded.