The history of Italian cycling added a new epic chapter on June 29, 2025, when a team with no major financial backing or traditional structures shocked the entire professional peloton. In the 125th edition of the Italian National Road Championship, held between Trieste and Gorizia over 228.8 kilometers, Filippo Conca, rider of the Swatt Club, was crowned champion after a grueling day of over five hours. The result not only unsettled the WorldTour giants, but also confirmed that it’s still possible to break the mold in an increasingly industrialized sport.
The Swatt Club, born as an amateur club with no visible sponsors, defied all logic by beating established names like Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) and Thomas Pesenti (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team), who finished on the podium with the same time as Conca. The top 5 also included Giovanni Aleotti (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) and Mattia Gaffuri, another member of Swatt, confirming the collective strength of a team that raced with heart as its main fuel.
The confirmation of an impossible dream
Trained in development teams and with brief stints in the WorldTour, Filippo Conca found in the Swatt Club the chance to revive his career in a less conventional but more authentic environment. In Gorizia, his victory was more than just an individual win: it was the crowning of a project born out of love for cycling, one that withstood attacks from the big favorites and crossed the finish line with the same time—yet with a completely different story behind it. In his own words, it was “a dream built without resources, only with passion.”
The Swatt Club, founded in 2017 as an evolution of a sports blog started by friends, has grown into a community open to all cyclists, combining road races, gravel events, and a unique amateur-professional approach. Its philosophy, closer to team spirit than to business logic, found its greatest reward in this National Championship. With no major brands on their jerseys and no multimillion-euro budgets, they showed that cycling still has room for those who dream big with humble means.
