'I have shown that I can be a leader' Persico steps up to WorldTour after six seasons with Italian development team
Silvia Persico of Italy and Team Valcar Travel & Service(Image credit: Getty Images)
UAE Team ADQ have bolstered its roster and staff with the addition of revelation Silvia Persico and directeur sportif Davide Arzeni who move up to the WorldTour team from the successful development Valcar Travel & Service in 2023.
Persico will move into a leadership position while Arzeni aims to elevate the project that is currently seventh and eighth in the UCI World Ranking and Women's WorldTour team ranking.
“I’m looking forward to three very positive and important years for my career," said Persico, who signed a three-year contract with UAE Team ADQ through 2025.
"I come from a team like Valcar where I grew up as a child and now, I have made this choice of UAE Team ADQ to continue my path of growth for the best. This season has made me understand a lot of things and with more freedom, I have won my space. I think I have shown that I can be a leader. And with the new team, I can only improve and gain even more experience."
The 25-year-old from Alzano Lombardo, Italy, started the season with a bronze medal at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships and ended the season with a bronze medal at the UCI Road World Championships.
She was also the revelation of the Tour de France Femmes in July and finished seven of the eight stages inside the top 10 and was fifth overall.
She confirmed to Cyclingnews at the Tour de France Femmes that she had signed a contract with a WorldTour team for 2023, and so would leave Valcar Travel & Service, although she could not reveal the team at that time.
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It was an emotional revelation in her interview with Cyclingnews, as she expressed thanks for the support of Valcar Travel & Service and the team's director Arzeni, her coach of six years. "If I'm here now it's because of Davide. He encouraged me to try and has helped me to do well on this team," Persico said.
"Valcar is like a second family. I'm sure that I'm the rider I am now because of the Valcar people who have helped me for the six years that I've been here. Thank you to Valentino Villa and to Davide Arzeni. I'm very happy to have been part of this team."
UAE Team ADQ took over from former Alé BTC Ljubljana at the start of the 2022 season with big-name riders leading the squad such as former world champion Marta Bastianelli and Spanish Champion Mavi Garcia.
Garcia will move to Liv Racing Xstra next year, as Persico takes over a leading role on the team. UAE Team ADQ have also announced returning riders Sofia Bertizzolo, Erica Magnaldi, Laura Tomasi, Anna Trevisi, Eugenia Bujak, Alena Ivanchenko, Linda Zanetti and Safiya Alsayegh. Several new additions expected to be announced soon.
“Knowing that our team and our activities as female athletes can be a source of inspiration for so many women, especially in the Arab world is definitely a very positive thing. It is a great honor for me to share these values related to sport and the empowerment of women," Persico said.
“I'm happy to join this new team and I think it's important to get into the new group right away, to find harmony with the new teammates."
Arzeni building a team
Team director Arzeni confirmed to Cyclingnews that he too will be leaving Valcar Travel & Service and will join UAE Team ADQ as a director in 2023. He said it was a tough decision to depart Valcar Travel & Service after helping to build the team, alongside Valentino Villa, into one of the most successful development team's in the world.
"I'm leaving Valcar after seven years, it was not easy, but in sport, in general, there are cycles of a coach, even if winning lasts a maximum of five or six years. At Valcar, I have been here for seven and I am still doing very well."
Arzeni told Cyclingnews that after discussing the possibility of joining UAE Team ADQ with manager Rubens Bertogliati in March he officially signed his contract in May to become the team's new director next year.
"I had many offers, but as you know, I really like building a team, starting from a project that is based on respect for the person, before the rider, and in Rubens and thinking about him, I found this quality," Arzeni said.
Arzeni stated that Persico is just one of several Valcar Travel & Service riders expected to move up to the WorldTour with UAE Team ADQ in 2023, which he said will be announced at a later date.
"Some Valcar Travel & Service riders, it is true that they will move here, too, and I would be a hypocrite to deny it, but who these riders will be, I cannot say yet."
He said that his decision to leave Valcar Travel & Service for UAE Team ADQ was not linked to the riders' decision, and that he wanted them to be able to make their own choices.
"What I can tell you is that my choice and theirs were two separate things. I'm not sure if I decided first or they first, to choose this project. I chose without knowing and I would have chosen UAE with or without them.
Arzeni explained to Cyclingnews at the Tour de France Femmes that he didn't think Valcar Travel & Service, despite a seventh-place position on the UCI World Ranking and 10th in the Women's WorldTour ranking, would apply for a WorldTeam licence in 2023.
He acknowledged that riders like Persico have learned how to race by working for the best riders in the world during her time at Valcar Travel & Service, riders like reigning World Champion Elisa Balsamo (now Trek-Segafredo) and Marta Cavalli (now FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope).
He hopes the team will remain a prominent Continental-level development team for up-and-coming riders. He also believes that Valcar Travel & Service plays an important role and hopes it will become a feeder team to an existing WorldTour team in future, perhaps a team like UAE Team ADQ or another prominent outfit among the 14 top-tier programmes.
"I don't know what will happen. I just hope that these development teams have important help from all over the cycling world. Teams like Valcar, or looking in other countries like Parkhotel Valkenburg, are a mandatory step for a riders who aspires to be a top in the Women's WorldTour. The numbers show it. The growth must be gradual."
Silvia Persico of Italy and Team Valcar Travel & Service (Image credit: Getty Images)
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
