From amateur world champion to a stagiaire with Polti: Gaffuri will get a shot among the pros

After years of sacrifice along a far-from-“standard” path, Mattia Gaffuri will finally get a chance among the professionals with Polti VisitMalta. The Swatt Club rider is set to join the team as a stagiaire, as has been circulating in recent weeks. While nothing is official yet, his latest Instagram story featuring an Aurum bike seems to confirm the rumors.

This will be his first time racing with the pros after a career that began in the amateur ranks, continued as a U23 (including an appearance at the Giro d’Italia Giovani) with Velo Club Mendrisio, then returned to amateur status, and now sees him riding as an elite amateur with Swatt Club. His fifth-place finish at the Italian National Championships—somewhat overshadowed by his teammate Filippo Conca’s victory—proved his ability to compete at a high level, following strong results at the Tour de Beauce and Oberösterreich Rundfahrt, as well as in gravel races, where he recently became the Italian national champion.

In 2024, still as an amateur, he won the 19–34 Granfondo World Championship in Aalborg, placed fifth at the UCI Gravel World Series ME – La Indomable, and finished 16th at the European Gravel Championships. A year earlier, he had taken second place at the European Climbing Championships, just behind Felix Großschartner—formerly of Bora-hansgrohe and now with UAE Team Emirates.

Over the years, he has stood out on social media for his persistence in never giving up, despite the many setbacks he faced—first as a U23 and then during the Zwift Academy, where he reached the finals twice. He’s also known for how his approach to cycling has evolved. Once an inexperienced young rider—he had barely raced before his first U23 season—he gradually embraced innovative training methods that are now becoming more widespread in the peloton, such as heat training, thanks to his ongoing study of scientific papers and continual self-experimentation.

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