Club-level Filippo Conca stuns with Italian road race title win

Filippo Conca of Swatt Club, a club-level Italian team, delivered the surprise of the weekend by sprinting to victory in the Italian Road Race Championships in Gorizia, defeating the established WorldTour professional teams in a dramatic finale. "It was an incredible day," said the 26-year-old from Lecco post-finish.

The victory marks an incredible comeback for the former Lotto and Q36.5 rider, who stepped down to club level for the 2025 season, having found himself without a professional contract. Conca proved his worth by outsprinting Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Thomas Pesenti (Soudal Quick-Step Development) to claim the Italian Tricolore, in what is remarkably his first professional win. 

"In October, I was left without a team after four years in which I worked for others, because it was my job. So, I had few opportunities to get results and for this reason, I didn't even find a Continental team," Conca explained. "I had two choices: either stop, or continue with the reality of Swatt Club."

In the five-man group that contested the sprint finish, it was the club-level team, Club Swatt, that had the most representation, with two riders, as Mattia Gaffuri (Swatt Club) finished in 5th behind Giovanni Aleotti (Red-Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), who narrowly missed out on the podium in 4th. 

Conca played it cool, lurking at the back of the group inside the final kilometre before jumping in the final few hundred metres over the cobblestones and powering to victory.

"I knew Alessandro Covi was fast. But I also know that on certain days I am too," Conca said. "I knew that if I had arrived 100 metres from the finish line, on the cobblestones, faster than the others, I would probably have won. And so it was."

The road to success hasn't been smooth for the new Italian champion. "It hasn't been an easy season for me. I've had a lot of bad luck, with some falls; the last one in mid-May in Livigno, when I hit a marmot on a descent," Conca revealed.

"I've been waiting for this day since October, it's a dream come true, not so much for the result, but for all the suffering I've had in these months. I'm proud of myself and everyone who has been close to me."