lack of leaders, reluctance of sponsors, internationalization… Why Italian cycling is at the bottom of the wave

Italy, which has always had champions capable of winning Grand Tours, has been marking time for a decade.

The history of Italian cycling is full of climbers who have left their mark on the history of the Tour de France: the pioneer Ottavio Bottecchia, the first transalpine winner in 1924, the inseparable Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, and more recently Marco Pantani and Vincenzo Nibali.

But since the latter’s victory in the Grande Boucle in 2014, Italian cycling has been going through a lull. The same Vincenzo Nibali won the Giro in 2016 and the comet Fabio Aru had won the Vuelta in 2015, but nothing since. A small eternity for the Transalpines, accustomed to filling the prize lists of the Grand Tours at all times. “L‘Italy will not win the Tour de France again this year’asserts Ciro Scognamiglio, journalist for the daily The Gazzetta dello Sport.

And this is unlikely to change in the coming years, as no Italian is currently capable of competing with Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard in the Grand Tour. “Italy has had moments with great champions, and great rivalries like Moser-Sarronni, Gimondi-Merckx. This is a slightly less strong period, but that’s normal, it’s a question of cycle”continues the man who has been following cycling for the Italian daily since 2003.

Despite everything, Italy retains good climbers like Giulio Ciccone, the young Giulio Pellizzari or Antonio Tiberi, 5th in the last Giro at 23 years old, but it shines above all on other terrains. “At the moment there are great Italian riders, like the sprinter Jonathan Milan or in the time trial with Filippo Ganna, but no potential Grand Tour winner.observes Ciro Scognamiglio.

With only eight transalpine runners starting from Florence (there were seven last year and 17 in 2014), hopes are reduced to nothing. “VS“It’s hard to imagine winning it in the next few years, but it’s a question of cycle”, he continues. “I am confident: we are a historic cycling country, we will succeed in bridging the gap that has been created,” believes Paolo Bellino, the boss of RCS Sports, which notably manages the Tour of Italy and Milan-San Remo.

“Italy has never had a world number one in tennis, and now it has Jannik Sinner. In athletics, we have never had an Olympic champion in the 100 metres before Marcell Jacobs. It is not always the same countries that are at the top.”

Ciro Scognamiglio

journalist at Gazzetta dello Sport

How to explain this decline? First of all, the internationalization of cycling has brought to the fore the emergence of previously invisible nations and brought into the fray oil-producing states with almost unlimited budgets. “Many countries that did not exist in the past in the geography of cycling, such as Slovenia or Denmark, are now producing champions”notes Ciro Scognamiglio.

Faced with competition from emerging states, whether for teams or riders, historic nations have sometimes been taken by surprise, and are now falling behind. “In cycling which has become considerably internationalized, with an ever higher level, it is now more difficult to break through for an Italian rider”notes Vincenzo Nibali to AFP. “We don’t decide where talents are born. Slovenia has very few licensed riders but three riders in the world top 10, including the phenomenon Pogacar,” confirms Cordiano Dagnoni, president of the Italian Cycling Federation.

Another problem in Italy: the teams. “When the ProTour system started in 2005, there were four teams in the top division. Now there are none.”summarizes the journalist from The Sports Gazette. Exit the Italian sponsors, replaced by Soudal-Quick-Step, EF-Education EasyPost or… UAE Emirates.

If four Italian teams are waiting in the second division, none have been established in the first division since 2016. With fewer high-level teams, the chances of bringing young national riders to the top are less.

All these players in Italian cycling put at the center of the problem the lack of money and the low incentive to invest in a team. “The days of Mapei, Lampre or Liquigas are over, especially since there is no policy that encourages these companies to invest in our sport”explains the president of the Federation. “There would be a possibility, but for now no one wants to do it. Sponsors now prefer to put money into a sporting event rather than into a team,” completes Ciro Scognamiglio.

Since putting his bike away in 2022, Vincenzo Nibali has focused on building a team: “You have to find a company that plans over five to seven years and is ready to invest 120 million euros”he calculates.

“It’s also impossible to acquire a World Tour license. It’s really a long-term project with a lot of money involved, without immediate exposure. It’s difficult to find a company or someone willing to such a commitment.”

Vincenzo Nibali, former winner of the Tour de France

to AFP

So many factors that make it difficult for a successor to Vincenzo Nibali or Marco Pantani, the last two idols of the transalpine public, to emerge. But Italy is not an isolated case in the face of globalization: France has been waiting for 39 years, Germany has disappeared from the general rankings and Spain still does not have a real successor to Alberto Contador.

Which of these historic nations will be the one to end the dominance of the Great Britain-Slovenia-Denmark trio, which has won 16 of the 24 Grand Tours since the last Italian winner, Vincenzo Nibali at the 2016 Giro? “For Italy, winning the Tour in the next ten years will not be easy but not impossible either. Because in sport, things change quickly”concludes Ciro Scognamiglio.