Andrea Montoli

The cyclist from Parabiago, a town near Milan, came to the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation from the Club Ciclistico Canturino 1902 and was already aware that the move was going to be a surprise. “I know it’s not normal and it’s not easy. First of all because I’m facing my first year in the category and because you arrive in a new category in which you are going to compete against guys older than you, with more experience. It is a great difficulty, even more so because it is in another country, but I am convinced that I will learn a lot from this experience. I was very interested in getting to know another reality of this sport and this opportunity allows me to do so”, he said in the winter of 2020. Montoli, one of the riders of the 2020 youth season in Italy in large part thanks to his national title, has perhaps been a little more in the limelight because of the story that accompanies him. A few years ago, when he was 15, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “It’s been the hardest time of my life. One day you’re with your friends, life is wonderful, and the next you don’t know what’s going to happen. You have to have an operation, you are young and confused. The operation, the treatment… With determination and courage I got through that moment. It wasn’t easy, but I made it. And I want that message to reach everyone. Three years ago I couldn’t even do twenty kilometres on the bike. I could never have imagined that I would win the nationals just three years later”. The rider from Lombardy defined himself at the time as a ‘passista veloce’ who likes not very long climbs, but during the 2022 season he has established himself as a very regular cyclist. “I like the climbs more than the big volatas. I have more respect for the volatas. A shorter sprint is a context in which I do better”. In the Volta a Valencia 2022 he made his debut in the category, although he had previously had a great success in a Vuelta a Toledo Imperial in which he finished second.