![\"1138295748\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1138295748-6504995c6bd69.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to Belgium and all met together: athletes, sports directors, part of the staff. The first day I took the measurements for the bike, I did the bike fitting. Then I met trainers and nutritionists. The next day I met the other part of the staff: mental coach, doctors, masseurs\u2026\u201d Dainese explained.<\/p>\n
When asked about his impressions, he said: \u201cIt all seems good to me, professional, more meticulous than I thought, which is a good thing. We also did a tour of the Soudal headquarters. We were not at the team\u2019s service course.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the location, Dainese added: \u201cIt\u2019s a modern structure. We were in the actual Soudal headquarters, not at the service course where the team\u2019s warehouse is, but at Soudal\u2019s main site, which has several branches. We toured the company. We went to what was the first production plant for silicones, adhesives, and sealants. It\u2019s nice that you can actually touch the reality of the company. And I have to say, I really enjoyed seeing the Soudal workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if they recognised the riders, he replied: \u201cYes of course, some more than others\u2026 They especially knew the Belgian riders. But we were kept quite separate. Also because we were in the research and development department. They didn\u2019t come to disturb us, and we didn\u2019t disturb them. But yes, some stopped you, and it was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meeting the team\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the visit, Dainese had the chance to meet several of his new teammates, though the schedule left little time for long conversations. \u201cIn those days we didn\u2019t go cycling, we stayed two nights and three days in the end. Between the trip and the meetings, the actual working days were two. As I said, we did visits, measurements, meetings, physical tests\u2026 For example, they evaluated the difference in strength between one leg and the other with a squat test. I only took an hour one morning because I went running with Filippo Zana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dainese also discussed his new trainer. \u201cHe\u2019s Belgian and will coach all four Italians\u2026 so he\u2019ll have to start learning Italian from now until the end of the year! He seems smart. We\u2019ve already seen two or three things to implement and improve compared to this year. Especially considering that I came from a season with two major injuries, and it was quite tough. I suffered a bit from what my 2024 was and from a preparation that didn\u2019t account for the training hours I missed the previous year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably this year I will train a bit more,” he continued. “But I\u2019m motivated, I also want to redeem myself after two underwhelming seasons because since I had that terrible crash [referring to the accident that happened last winter in Calpe] I haven\u2019t been back to my level. It\u2019s no coincidence that I\u2019m already back on the bike. I took two weeks off, even though I still went running, but as I said, I\u2019ve already been back on the bike for six days. And the sensations seem good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alberto Dainese won a stage at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a in 2023<\/p>\n
Merlier – Magnier – Dainese: the best sprinter trio?He also talked about meeting his fellow sprinters, Tim Merlier<\/a> and Paul Magnier<\/a>, who are currently two of the best sprinters in the world, and whether he is ready to work for them.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s definitely stimulating to be with people of that calibre. I can\u2019t wait to measure myself against them from the first training camp. They are the first and second sprinters in the world for the number of wins this year, so if I\u2019ll have a shared calendar, I\u2019ll also be ready to help. That also motivates me. And then I\u2019ll do a third calendar and try to do well. One thing is certain: here we race to win, and that\u2019s a mentality I like. It\u2019s different from other environments. The only thing that matters is finishing first.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked if he had already spoken to Merlier and Magnier, he said: \u201cBriefly, there were so many people to meet that it was hard to talk to them, also because they were quite busy. We knew each other from having exchanged a few quick words in the peloton, but nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n The wolfpack mentality<\/p>\n Speaking enthusiastically, Dainese described what struck him most: the famous wolfpack mentality. \u201cThe mentality. The mentality is what makes the difference. You can feel this will to win. For a classics hunter or a sprinter like me, it\u2019s like going to Real Madrid\u2026 where you expect to win every match. You race to win, and this drives the whole team and all the staff. This has always impressed and fascinated me, even before, when I saw them from the outside. You already feel part of something, of the famous Wolfpack\u2026 You can say: I race in the Wolfpack. They race united: all for one, one for all.\u201d<\/p>\n About sports director Davide Bramati, Dainese commented: \u201cI\u2019m happy with him. I didn\u2019t know him well, but he seems like a very good leader. He gives you energy\u2026 He follows us, he cares, he gives the right advice: Brama is very present in the team. They told me he\u2019s been in this group for 30 years. He will be the reference sports director for us Italians [Dainese, Garofoli, Raccagni and Zana]\u201d<\/p>\n As for his 2026 season, Dainese confirmed he will start very early. \u201cFor now, I know I\u2019ll start from Australia. Imagine, they asked me how I would take it if they sent me right away to the Down Under. And I answered: \u2018I was going to ask you that myself!\u2019 So I\u2019m happy to start right away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe went to Belgium and all met together: athletes, sports directors, part of the staff. The first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-241015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}