In modern road cycling, the rules are ruthless. Miss your chance by your early twenties and the door to the pro peloton usually slams shut for good. There are no scouts waiting for 26-year-olds with full-time jobs, no WorldTour contracts for riders who clock in at the office on Monday morning.
Cyclocross, however, still plays by different rules.
Thanks to its open structure and fierce grassroots culture, cyclocross remains one of the few disciplines where passion, form, and a racing license can still earn you a place on the sport’s biggest stages. And this winter, that rare opportunity became reality for Gabriele Spadoni and Marco Marzani, two friends from Emilia-Romagna who found themselves lining up at World Cup races alongside Mathieu van der Poel.
They weren’t chasing professional contracts. They were chasing a dream.
Racing the World Cup With a Full-Time Job
Spadoni and Marzani race for Cicli Manini, a small team based in Piacenza. Away from the mud and barriers, their lives look nothing like those of the global cyclocross elite. Spadoni is a management engineer and father, while Marzani works as a personal trainer, balancing training around clients and gym hours.
Yet for a few unforgettable weekends this season, they traded desks and dumbbells for the epicenter of cyclocross: Belgium—and later, the World Cup round in Benidorm, Spain.
The contrast hit immediately.
Parking Next to the Giants of Cyclocross
At their first Belgian races, the Italian duo parked their modest camper van just meters away from the imposing Team Visma | Lease a Bike bus.
“In Belgium, we immediately noticed a completely different atmosphere,” they told bici.pro. “The organization is incredible. We’re nobody—we race for a very small team—but they gave us a spot right next to Visma.”
What happened next left them speechless.
“As soon as we parked, kids and parents came over asking us for postcards,” they said. “We were shocked. We didn’t even have any. Next year, we’ll be ready.”
13,000 Fans, Snow, and a Feeling They’ll Never Forget
At the race in Mol, the scale of cyclocross culture became impossible to ignore. While snow fell, 13,000 spectators packed the venue, watching riders warm up as if they were stars.
“For us, it’s unthinkable,” Marzani said. “We aren’t famous riders, but they made us feel important.”
If the fans created the spectacle, the riders themselves delivered moments of pure awe—especially in Spain.
“I Touched the Sky”: Sharing the Course With Mathieu van der Poel
For Spadoni, the World Cup in Benidorm produced a memory that will last a lifetime.
During course reconnaissance, he found himself riding directly behind Mathieu van der Poel, the reigning world champion and one of cycling’s most dominant figures.
“I asked him if I could stay on his wheel,” Spadoni recalled. “He said yes—and then noticed I was riding a Stevens bike with a camouflage design. He told me he’d won a World Championship on that exact bike.”
Van der Poel didn’t stop there.
“He smiled, thanked me, and told me to follow his lines through the most technical sections,” Spadoni said. “I touched the sky with a finger. He’s an absolute god to me, but he was so calm and approachable.”
Back to the Office on Monday Morning
The surreal nature of the experience didn’t fully sink in until days later—back at work.
“When I sat at my desk on Monday, I got chills just thinking about it,” Spadoni admitted. “Even my colleagues could see something had changed.”
The Power of Plan B in Cyclocross
What makes Spadoni and Marzani’s story resonate isn’t just who they raced—but who they are.
Both riders have already embraced what many young athletes fear most: Plan B.
Marzani, born in 2000, holds a master’s degree in sports posture and trains around his work as a personal trainer, managing about 15 hours of riding per week. Spadoni trains during lunch breaks, balancing racing with family life. He has a four-year-old daughter, with another child on the way.
“I started again from zero two years ago, putting my pride aside,” Spadoni said. “I don’t want to race the way I did before—but I have no regrets. I’d choose this path again every time, because it let me live a daydream.”
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