Gabriele Bessega: “Ivan Basso explained the project to me and I liked it a lot”

The Cantabrians Diego (1994) and Pablo Noriega (1995), in the first season of existence of the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation, are the previous and only precedent in terms of two brothers in the same team. For 2023, however, this circumstance is updated by two brothers who are also twins: the Italians Tommaso and Gabriele Bessega (18 February 2004).

It is not clear which of the two is the elder, says Gabriele, as their birth was by caesarean section. What is certain is that they both fell in love with cycling thanks to their father’s great love of cycling, Roberto, a recurrent cyclist and a regular on the routes near the family home in the Lombardy town of Samarate, south of Gallarate and northwest of Busto Arsizio.

Gabriele is a good sprinter with very good time trial skills, “also for a sprint with few riders involved”, although his sporting origins are in football. In football, Gabriele Bessega was a creative midfielder with an attacking tendency. “I played for Vanzaghello. But both Tommaso and I really liked cycling and because we liked competition, we ended up getting closer to competitive cycling,” he recalls.

It was not an early approach. It was at the age of 13 or 14 that Gabriele Bessega began to compete in cycling. “First I did it in a local structure, the San Macario, and then we went to the Unione Ciclistica Bustese Olonia, in which we have competed in recent years and from which we came to the Contador Foundation”. And why this choice? “Ivan Basso explained the project to me and I liked it very much, I am very happy to be part of EOLO-KOMETA next season. The ProTeam is very well known here, but also the U23 structure has its recognition”.

Asked about a favourite rider and a race that appeals to him, Gabriele says: “My favourite rider is Belgian Remco Evenepoel. As for my favourite corsa, I’ll take the Tour de France. I find it the most diverse of all the races”.