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Ready to seize every chance at Coppi e Bartali

Four EF Education-Aevolo riders take on Italian race with EF Education-

March 25, 2026

Every day offers a fresh opportunity at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, one of Italy’s most dynamic and unpredictable stage races.

While the five-day event gets underway on Wednesday with a stage that, on paper, could end in a reduced sprint, the race’s character rarely follows a script. With varied terrain, aggressive racing, and a mix of experienced WorldTour riders and emerging talents from EF Education–Aevolo, each stage presents its own possibilities - from breakaway success to sprints and potential changes in the general classification.

“Coppi e Bartali is a super nice race, and the stages are all quite promising,” sports director Sebastian Langeveld said on the eve of the race.

The EF Education–EasyPost roster includes Samuele Battistella, Alastair MacKellar, and Jardi Christiaan van der Lee from the WorldTour team, alongside Roberto Capello, Gavin Hlady, Tomos Pattinson, and Juan Felipe Rodriguez from the U23 ranks.

Samuele will be our card for the potential sprint stages, while Juan Felipe will be looking to go head-to-head with the best climbers in the race. The rest of the team will have opportunities of their own, whether in breakaways or punchy finishes. Langeveld believes that each of the five stages offers something different and that the team can race aggressively when the moment is right.

“If you look at the rosters for the other teams, they’ve also brought in a few young guys, and we’ve put together a really good blend of athletes from the WorldTour and the development team that complement each other. There are some stages that suit Samuele and others that suit Juan Felipe. He’s still a development rider, but if you saw how he was climbing with us at the Volta ao Algarve earlier this year, then I think he can be competitive for GC,” Langeveld said.

The team has enjoyed success at Coppi e Bartali in recent years, with Archie Ryan winning a stage in 2024 and finishing second overall.

This year, the goal is to give younger riders the opportunity to compete at a higher level and gain valuable experience. At the same time, the race offers our WorldTour riders a chance to take on greater leadership roles, guide the U23 riders, and break out of their existing duties.

“There’s a bit of everything, and we can really take our opportunities to go into breaks. That’s good for the development riders and for our WorldTour riders, who can gain experience in how to win races. From that perspective, it’s a great race for us. Even with breakaways, there are opportunities every day. In the WorldTour, it’s maybe a bit more controlled, and here I don’t see that happening because sometimes you want to race with more freedom. I expect quite an open race,” Langeveld said.

We can’t wait to see the riders out on the roads of Italy competing for top honors.

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Roberto Capello

Italian rider Roberto Capello joins our EF Education-Aevolo roster for 2026. The talented all-rounder spent a decade playing soccer back home before picking up the bike in 2021 and joining his dad on some local rides. From there, Roberto’s passion for the sport took off, and it wasn’t long before he was winning races and establishing himself as a rising star.

2025 was a breakout season for Roberto, with a string of impressive wins, including victory in the junior men’s road race at the Italian national championships, a GC win in the Medzinárodné dni Cyklistiky, and second place in the junior race at the European Road Championships in France, where he was narrowly caught just before the line.

Outside of cycling, Roberto is into motorbikes, photography and drones.

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Gavin Hlady

American U23 road race champion Gavin Hlady grew up in Sunnyvale, California. His dad was a racer and got him into the sport when he was a kid. He joined his high-school mountain bike team, did his first road races, and was soon progressing through the ranks from Cat.4 to Cat.2. Last summer, Gavin finished third at the US Pro Road National Championships with the elites. He also earned a number of strong results in European races with EF Education-Aevolo

He is a punchy bike rider, who excels on hard, hilly circuits, where the pace rarely lets up and the racing rewards staying power. Gavin’s big goal for this season is to win a UCI race in Europe. He hopes that will launch him straight into the WorldTour.

Last year, he got the chance to do some races with EF Education-EasyPost as a stagiare and will use that experience to propel him ahead of his rivals this season. This could be his make or break year.

To give himself the best chance to succeed, Gavin has moved to Girona, Spain, where he is enjoying exploring all of the quiet roads and sunny climbs.

Off the bike, he enjoys bowling, pickleball, and golf. Gavin is taking a break from his studies in mechanical engineering this year to focus full-time on racing and is very impressed by the tech on his brand new Cannondale Lab71 SuperSix Evo team bike.

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Juan Felipe Rodriguez

Tenjo, Colombia’s Juan Felipe Rodriguez brings grit and climbing talent to EF Education-Aevolo.

In his first foray into European racing in spring 2025, Juan Felipe won the queen stage of the Ronde de l'Isard, dropping some of the fastest under-23 racers on the planet on the ascent to the Pla de Soulcem in the Pyrenees. He finished the prestigious French stage race third overall. Racing against WorldTour competition the next month, he placed 16th at the summit finish of the Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica.

Juan Felipe was a consistent performer in the toughest South American races. The former winner of the Vuelta de la Juventud, the U23 Tour of Colombia, is excited to hone his skills with EF Education-Aevolo, as he works toward his dream of racing in the WorldTour.

Racing a full season in Europe will be an exciting challenge for Juan Felipe. Smaller roads and faster speeds will push his body and mind to the limit. He has moved to Girona to train in the mountains of Catalunya and will travel from there to races with the squad. Juan Felipe is looking forward to the adventure. He has wanted to become a professional cyclist ever since he first saw the Tour de France on TV when he was 16. He already rode his bike to school and around his hometown, but after seeing that stage of the Tour, Juan Felipe started venturing out into the hills around his hometown near Bogotá, dreaming of attacking grand tour stages.

With EF Education-Aevolo, Juan Felipe is well on his way to fulfilling his dreams.

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Tomos Pattinson

Tomos grew up close to our Tour de France star Ben Healy, and even came through the same junior team in the United Kingdom as Ben. 

A winner of the junior Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a U23 British national time trial champion, Tomos is the true definition of a complete all-rounder and brings a stack of experience to the EF Education-Aevolo development team for 2026. The 20-year-old is strong against the clock, powerful on the flat, and can more than hold his own when the road points to the sky. In 2026, he’ll be aiming to add to his win tally and lead the line in several races that suit his versatile characteristics. 

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