Track cycling: Italy at the Elite World Championships in Shanghai

From 14 to 18 October, Shanghai will host the Elite Track World Championships, the first appointment towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Italy starts again from the 2025 edition in Santiago de Chile, closing with three medals: the golds of the women's team pursuit and of Elia Viviani in the elimination, in addition to the bronze of Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini in the Madison. The races will be held at the Shanghai Velodrome, Chongming Island.

There are 21 athletes called up on the recommendation of the Technical Commissioners Diego Bragato, Ivan Quaranta, Edoardo Salvoldi and Marco Villa. Filippo Ganna and Jonathan Milan return to racing on the track after a period in which they dedicated themselves mainly to the road. Together with Simone Consonni and Francesco Lamon they formed the gold quartet at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Paris 2024.

They are joined by a group of very young people who in recent months have shown that they can already compete at high levels, such as the 19 year old Alessio Magagnotti, the 20 year olds Davide Stella and Etienne Grimod and the 21 year old Matteo Fiorin.

Among the women, the Olympic champion couple from Madison, Guazzini and Consonni, reunites. Four of the five Italian world champions last year in Chile will be present in the team pursuit: Martina Alzini, Chiara Consonni, Martina Fidanza and Vittoria Guazzini. Federica Venturelli absent due to injury. Rachele Barbieri, Elite scratch world champion in 2017, also returns to the World Championship.

As regards speed, the World Championship in China, which offers the first points in the Olympic qualification process, represents an important testing ground for a group of young people who have already been protagonists in international events in recent years, in addition to the eighteen-year-old Filippo Cusumano, world junior bronze medalist in the sprint team and protagonist of rapid growth after the transition from BMX to the track.