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.
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,…
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