Edoardo Affini welcomes growing Italian contingent at Visma

The 28-year-old Italian will no longer be the sole Italian at the Dutch WorldTour team in 2025, as he's set to be joined by new signings Davide Piganzoli, Filippo Fiorelli and Pietro Mattio, who moves up from the development team.

"Before me there was only Battaglin," Affini says to bici.pro. "Next year there will be four of us. Honestly, it doesn't make much of an impression on me, except that it will be nice to speak my language every now and then if we're in the same race."

While balancing team responsibilities with new parenthood, Affini appears relaxed about the transition to fatherhood.

"It's obviously all different," Affini said. "Priorities change, days change, but it's definitely beautiful. I'm especially happy that I can enjoy it for almost a month. It's still a while before it becomes more… interactive, let's put it that way, but I'm taking my time to spend with it and create a certain bond."

The time-trial specialist, who joined Visma in 2021 after leaving Mitchelton-Scott, believes the incoming Italians will experience significant changes in their approach to racing.

"I'm not sure what they're used to, but I think Fiorelli and Piganzoli will make a quantum leap in terms of attention to detail and nutrition, which is certainly a very important aspect here," Affini said.

"When I came here, I definitely noticed the biggest difference in nutrition. Those were the years when they were starting to push the carbs up a notch. Maybe I would have done it even if I had stayed at Mitchelton, but here I found a radical change."

He predicts that 24-year-old Piganzoli, who rode as a leader at the Giro with Polti, will face different expectations at Visma. "I imagine that there were more expectations for someone like Piganzoli at Polti, where he was the standard bearer, than he will initially have here with us."

The team's careful approach to development is something Affini highlights as a strength. "They try to make you grow, but they evaluate it on a case-by-case basis," said.

Despite Visma's enormous success this season, winning two Grand Tours and placing second in another, Affini acknowledges the business-like nature of modern cycling teams.

"From my experience, I think there's a desire to try to maintain as much of a family and human aspect as possible. However, it's inevitable that, from a certain point of view, teams are managed like businesses," he says. "Even us, looking at everyone who works there, we must be around 250 people if not more, and it becomes difficult to have a close relationship with everyone."