FROM DRAWINGS FOR REMCO AND TADEJ TO FRIENDS GASHI AND GASPA: GETTING TO KNOW LUCA FERRO, THE LITTLE CHAMPION OF BUSTESE OLONIA

NEWCOMERS | 17/01/2025 | 08:08
di Nicolò Vallone
When dad Stefano and mom Manuela produce and personalize swimming costumes and your sister Sofia practices swimming, what sport could you possibly decide to do? In the case of today's thirteen-year-old Luca Ferro, from Busto Arsizio, the answer is one and only one: swimm... and no, cycling! It was his father's passion that took him to Sormano for the 2018 Lombardy race won by Pinot ahead of Nibali.
The atmosphere, the helicopters, the bikes, the riders... that elementary school child began a campaign to convince his parents, which the following year persuaded them to overcome their legitimate fears related to road safety and put their son on a bike. And so, just before the coronavirus entered our lives with a bang, Luca began his journey as a Young Cyclist with San Macario Biolo, and in 2022 the victories began. During the transition from elementary to middle school, the young boy consolidates excellent endurance and, when it comes to sprinting with few true competitors, he has few rivals. One of these, who until recently often beat him, is an Albanian-origin peer named Arbi Gashi.
The two challenge each other with mutual respect, as healthy competition teaches or should teach, especially at that age. And when Luca Ferro moves to a new category in Bustese Olonia the following year, when asked who would be a teammate he'd like to have by his side, he names Arbi, his valiant opponent. But first, there's another special... friendship: the one with cyclocross. At the end of 2023, during his last pedaling as a Young Cyclist, Luca tries to measure his talent and enthusiasm on winter dirt roads.
Not with the intention of doing it with any particular consistency, just two or three times for fun: but when you win the first, win the second, win the third, you end up enjoying it. He wins almost all of them: the only non-victory, on January 28, 2024, is the Italian Beginners 1st Year Championship in Castelletto di Serravalle, in the province of Bologna, where he loses by a whisker to Pugliese Oscar Carrer. A second place "avenged" two weekends ago as a fresh 2nd year in Follonica, distancing Veneto's Alberto Finetto and Friuli's Gabriele Molinari despite a chain slip midway through the race.
Now, a couple more races to show off the jersey just won and then a bit of "active pause" before resuming road activities in March (and something on the track, just to not miss anything in his all-round training) under the orders of President Alessandro Cardi and Sports Director Oscar Mara. His first year as a Beginner on the road, for the record, continued in the wake of the previous one: 14 victories, culminating in the prestigious Coppa di Sera in Valsugana, which repaid him for an Italian championship where he had to return from a fall and a puncture, finishing sixth in the sprint while Carlo Ceccarello took the national title and the tuttoBICI Oscar.
Luca, let's start with a difficult question: do you prefer road or cyclocross?
"I love both in very different ways. Cyclocross is definitely super fun and less stressful than road. I want to continue on this double track, with just enough track training to improve speed and sprint technique, while trying to avoid falls that could compromise the season. My cross coaches 'Grandpa' Giovanni Casiraghi and 'Aunt' Norma Fumagalli would like to convince me to do mountain bike too, but I like that less."
You like mountain bike less, but you really like the two coaches you mentioned!
"Of course, I dedicated my victory at the Italian championships in Follonica to them [he's with them in the article's photo, ed]. I train in their cycling school at Montagnetta di Sirone in Lecco, where I actually won my first cyclocross race at my debut (and there the dedication was for my grandfather Mario, a great cycling enthusiast, who had been gone for less than a year). When we train there, we are dozens of young athletes of different ages and teams, whereas on the road you're always with your teammates from the same category."
So you like them equally, but on a "human" level do you prefer cyclocross?
"Yes, let's say it's a more relaxed context and fewer antipathies are created between riders compared to the road, where there's always more nervousness. The road remains my mother discipline, and I thank Bustese Olonia for how they are allowing me to pursue all specialties."
Anyway, in the road team you have your best friend...
"Exactly, Arbi Gashi (who had his birthday the other day, happy birthday!). Cycling-wise a great engine, he asks me for lots of advice and helps me just as much. His older brother also races and his dad is a wonderful person: they're really a beautiful family and it would be nice to maybe go together to their Albania to follow the Giro d'Italia start. With Arbi, I spend a lot of time together, in cycling and in normal life."
Are you also classmates?
"No, I attend Galileo Galilei school in Busto while he lives half an hour away by car. But after middle school, I want to convince him to do agricultural school with me."
Apart from sports, school, and friendships, do you manage to cultivate any particular hobby?
"Drawing. In particular, combining passions, I like drawing cyclists. A drawing I recently made and am attached to is the one of my idol Remco Evenepoel. Another one I would have been super attached to was the watercolor I had made for Tadej Pogacar, to get autographed at Tre Valli Varesine. In the end, I managed to approach and greet Pogacar, but unfortunately the downpour that led to the race's cancellation got me and ruined the drawing!"
What do you particularly appreciate about Evenepoel?
"First of all, he's not a wait-and-see rider: if he knows he's stronger, or thinks he is, he wants to show it by attacking. Moreover, I'm fascinated by his style on the bike: steady shoulders and back as flat as possible, as if he were permanently on a time trial bike. In cyclocross, however, my favorite is not one of the 'usual' big names, but one who excels when they're not there: the experienced Flemish rider Laurens Sweeck, who with that powerful Northern-typical physique has won over 40 races in his career."
From these details, it's clear you watch and "study" a lot of cycling on TV: what's your favorite race?
"Paris-Roubaix, which in a way combines road and cross."
Speaking of studying: what's your favorite subject in school?
"History."
Finally, Luca, I know you have a special thanks to make...
"To my super-fan Luciano Gasparotto, the first to hug me when I crossed the finish line at the Italian championships in Follonica."
Yes, Luca, Gaspa is a friend of Tuttobiciweb and cycling. Meanwhile, speaking of history, you keep studying and writing your own!