{"id":489522,"date":"2026-02-19T06:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489522\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T06:15:07","slug":"being-in-the-hotel-with-van-aert-vingegaard-and-so-many-champions-really-makes-you-think-teenage-visma-recruits-describe-life-inside-cyclings-elite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/489522\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBeing in the hotel with Van Aert, Vingegaard, and so many champions really makes you think\u201d \u2013 Teenage Visma recruits describe life inside cycling\u2019s elite"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\u201cIt really makes you think,\u201d Segatta admitted in conversation with Bici.Pro<\/a>, reflecting on life inside a WorldTour environment that suddenly feels very close.Proximity without intimidation<\/p>\n

Baruzzi and Segatta\u2019s reactions echo a familiar refrain from inside Visma this winter. Riders stepping up at different levels have repeatedly spoken not about hierarchy or distance, but about accessibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the hotel with Van Aert, Vingegaard, and so many champions really makes you think,\u201d Segatta said. \u201cIt\u2019s beautiful. Even just talking with Piganzoli and Affini is emotional. These are riders I was watching on television until yesterday, and now they\u2019re teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baruzzi was equally direct about the impact of that closeness. \u201cVan Aert has always been my idol,\u201d he said. \u201cSeeing him and speaking to him is something that doesn\u2019t happen every day. It\u2019s an emotion and a memory that will stay with me forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sense of awe, importantly, is not accompanied by fear. Like other young riders who have spoken publicly about their first months inside Visma, neither Baruzzi nor Segatta describe an environment built on intimidation. Instead, they repeatedly emphasise openness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s incredible availability from everyone,\u201d Baruzzi explained. \u201cStaff, directors, teammates. The impact of joining a team like this is huge, but everyone helps you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A familiar Visma pattern<\/p>\n

Those comments sit comfortably alongside similar testimony already heard inside the team this season.<\/p>\n

Earlier this winter, Davide Piganzoli spoke about being surprised by how much dialogue shapes Visma\u2019s daily work<\/a>, while Matthew Brennan has described being supported into responsibility rather than shielded from it. Even riders already established in the WorldTour have highlighted how quickly newcomers are made to feel part of the structure.<\/p>\n

For Baruzzi and Segatta, that integration has extended well beyond racing. From carefully planned travel schedules to training camps in Norway and Spain, they describe learning what it means to be a professional long before results are expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying it sounds trivial, but we know everything,\u201d Baruzzi said. \u201cWhere we start racing, when we travel, and when to take the plane. Even the tickets for camps arrive two months in advance. You learn a lot, even just travelling alone through airports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segatta agrees. \u201cYou learn a lot. Travelling on your own is sometimes fun too. You discover new places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning the job before chasing results<\/p>\n

Both riders are clear that this stage of their careers is about education, not immediate success.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing here is a starting point,\u201d Baruzzi said. \u201cIt means you are maybe one step higher, but that doesn\u2019t mean there won\u2019t be a lot of work to do. We\u2019ll be put in the best conditions to reach where we dream of getting, which is the professional level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segatta echoed that long view. \u201cBeing here means the team really believed in us. Now we have to learn and grow to make this job work and one day reach the WorldTour.\u201d<\/p>\n

That patience mirrors what has already been seen with other Visma prospects. The message is consistent: exposure first, responsibility later, results when the foundations are in place.<\/p>\n

Stars as reference points, not barriers<\/p>\n

Perhaps the clearest insight from Baruzzi and Segatta is how Visma\u2019s biggest names function less as distant benchmarks and more as daily reference points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always have a joke ready,\u201d Baruzzi said of the senior riders. \u201cIf they see you a bit on your own, they pull you into the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

For teenagers arriving from junior teams, that dynamic matters. It transforms the experience from one of silent observation into active learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special just to wear this jersey,\u201d Segatta added. \u201cEven going home and training with it, people notice. It makes you proud, but it also makes you understand where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that sense, Baruzzi and Segatta are not outliers. They are the latest voices to confirm a pattern that has already defined Visma\u2019s development pathway this winter. The stars are present, visible and demanding, but never unreachable.<\/p>\n

And for riders just beginning their professional journey, that may be the most important lesson of all.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIt really makes you think,\u201d Segatta admitted in conversation with Bici.Pro, reflecting on life inside a WorldTour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,6495,85,165035,58412],"class_list":["post-489522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-sports","tag-team-visma-lease-a-bike","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}