Four strong Italian athletes, an international schedule and a quality technical management: those are the main features of a new technical project born from the fusion of great talents in a sector, that of off-road vehicles, which in the last ten years has proved crucial for the development and general evolution of cycling. “The new cyclocross team will be called FAS Airport Services” explains Valentino Villa, president of Valcar – Travel & Service who in recent weeks has done his utmost to connect skills, athletes and resources, creating a truly intriguing platform. “We cannot hide the fact that multidisciplinarity has become crucial for the development of athletes – explains Villa – cycling is changing and evolution is in our DNA. When I told our sponsors about this idea, they were thrilled. Giving our athletes this opportunity is something really special. ” Four athletes will make up the team: nine-time Italian champion Eva Lechner, silver medal at the 2014 World Championships in cyclocross, current Italian champion Alice Maria Arzuffi, promising young Lucia Bramati and 24-year-old Silvia Persico from Bergamo. Coming along with the athletes to the races will be the two-time winner of the cyclocross World Cup and of the Super Prestige Luca Bramati, who has been involved for years in the development of the Italian off-road vehicle in both mountain biking and cyclocross. The project will be coordinated by Davide Arzeni, trainer of the new road world champion Elisa Balsamo and d.s. of Valcar – Travel & Service. “Our schedule with World Cup races will be international – explains Valentino Villa – from 10 October we will fly to the United States. That schedule will make our athletes grow and at the same time reward our sponsors. When the spotlights of the road season go out in winter, I noticed that the focus on cyclocross becomes very strong. Our sponsors will be able to enjoy twelve months out of twelve months of visibility, if we consider that many of them also accompany us in the road season ”. the debut of FAS Airport Services will take place next weekend: Alice Maria Arzuffi will show off the Italian flag on Sunday 3 October in the Dutch race in Gieten (Superprestige), while Eva Lechner, Silvia Persico and Lucia Bramati will race in the international race in Jesolo on the same date.
THE COMPANY – FAS Airport Services offers its services to all Italian airports and
most important airlines in the world, providing them with Passenger Layover services, such as
passenger re-routing, HOTAC services or transfer services, or providing Crew services
Accomodation, such as transport crews and technicians, search and selection of hotels for crews. All this with
scheduled or continuous services, or in situations of airport emergencies, flight cancellations,
over booking, aircraft breakdowns or staff strikes.
Customers who have used their services in recent years include airlines such as
Ryanair, Volotea, Emirates, Qatar, Tap Portugal, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Easy Jet, Wizz Air, British Airwais,
Turkish Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Tunisair, Vueling, Egyptair, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti, operating
on the 30 main Italian airports.
For Ryanair and Volotea, they have recently expanded their operating range to 8 airports
of Poland and 3 airports in Slovenia and Croatia, and with the aim of becoming operational too
on Germany by 2022.
FAS Airport services, through its own brand of ADV-T.O. MERCEDES TRAVEL, will take care of managing
all the trips, transfers, flight and hotel reservations that the NEW CICLOCROSS TEAM will face
for the 2021-22 racing season.
Mercedes Travel, already offers / manages these services (essential for sports groups participating in
national and international events) to the Valcar – Travel & Service team, to the 707 Team
Minini, Italian Triathlon team, and in recent months, to name a few, at Handball Erice,
women’s handball team, at ASD Canoa Club Sile, rowing and kayaking team, at G.S.C.
Villongo, youth cycling team, at the A.S.D. Junior Club Triathlon Vigevano, at the Open Mind ASD, arts
martial arts, at the A.S.D. Karate Club Savona, at the HF Libertas San Saba of women’s hockey, at the Circolo Posillipo,
water polo team, etc.
THE ATHLETS
EVA LECHNER
The Bolzano cyclist, born on 1 July 1985, since 2009 has put 11 tricolor jerseys on the board in the specialty
of cyclocross: a ruling roadmap, interrupted only in 2011, on the track that was not much cogenial to ger of the Capannelle Hippodrome in Rome, and in 2021 in Lecce, the day she came
she preceded by Alice Maria Arzuffi and Chiara Teocchi. An icon of the blue cyclocross who has also made a name for itself in the international field, especially between 2014 and 2015, with the silver world champion in Hoogerheide (1 February 2014) and the two victories in the World Cup at the Grote Prijs Adrie van der Poel (25 January 2015) and in Valkenburg (18 October 2015).
ALICE MARIA ARZUFFI
Reigning Italian champion, Alice will wear the tricolor jersey during this season.
A symbol to which the Brianza athlete had grown fond of, since she had had her on her shoulders for four
consecutive years among the Under 23s. And in this category the cross rider born in 1994 has given up the whim of
also get on prestigious podiums, such as that of the Europeans (silver in Huijbergen in 2015 and bronze in
Tabor in 2017) and that of the 2016 Zeven World Cup, where she took third place.
Speaking of exploits on international stages, it should be noted that her first major success
among the elites of Alice Maria Arzuffi it is not that of the Italian from Lecce, but the one won in Gavere
on 11 November 2018 on the occasion of the fourth round of the Superprestige.
SILVIA PERSICO
It was one of the surprises of the 2016/17 season when, in the Valcar – Travel & Service jersey, she made her appearance in the world of cyclocross, putting the Under 23 European champion Chiara Teocchi in crisis on more than one occasion, like the Italian of Silvelle di Trebaseleghe, decided only at the last corner.
From that first experience, the 24-year-old from Cene has completed her technical background, when she
missed an historic bronze medal at the Bogense 2019 world championship in Denmark by an inch.
In 2021 another token at the world championships for Persico, who finished 22nd among the Elite. For her also the third place at the Italian championship in Rome in 2018.
LUCIA BRAMATI
Her idol is Eva Lechner, with whom she had the opportunity to race in mtb with the Trinx jersey
Factory Team. And Lucia Bramati, born in Treviglio (BG) on January 17, 2003, is following in the footsteps of
Bolzano; for her already four Italian specialty titles: one among the rookies of her 2nd year at Silvelle di
Trebaseleghe (2017), one in Milan among the 2nd year students (2019), before the double win among the juniors,
conquered between Schio 2020 and Lecce 2021. A season, that 2020/21 that saw the daughter of art
also hitting a podium in his debut in the World Cup on the difficult Czech track of Tabor.
