Bruno Cenghialta, Fabio Baldato and Gianluca Brambilla, three people from Vicenza who passed from the handlebars of the bike to the steering wheel of the flagships without ever losing the route of great cycling.
He began Bruno Cenghialta, 63 years old, has been at Astana for ten years now. Before becoming sports director with the Kazakh World Tour team
worked for many other teams. 2026 will be his 26th year in the coaching role.
‘Cenghia’ was a top cyclist from 1986 to 1998. He raced with Magniflex, Ariostea, Gewiss Ballan, Batik Dal Monte and Riso Scotti. The pearl of his palmarès is the Castres stage of the 1991 Tour de France. He also won a Bernocchi Cup and came second in the ’94 Amstel Gold Race, beaten by Museeuw. After dismounting he climbed into the flagship, into the driver’s seat. Today he is one of ten men on the staff of XDS Astana, which has 30 riders and divides its program into three activities. In 2026 Cenghialta will spend around 150 days away from home. The detailed program is being defined, he will certainly be in the caravan at the Giro d’Italia.
At the wheel of the finisseur Cenghialta sprinter Fabio Baldato began his career as sports director, born in 1968, he turned professional in 1991 with Del Tongo and got off the bike in 2008 wearing the Lampre jersey, a team that immediately included him among the coaches. From there he moved on to BMC, where he cut his teeth for eight years, then to CCC for three years and then for another five at UAE, the stellar team of the emperor Tadej Pogacar, but also of the super talent Isaac Del Toro. About ten people were on staff, the minimum for such a structured World Tour. Baldato has also budgeted around 150 days from one corner of Europe to another in 2026, with a more relaxed start than usual: the first
commitment will be on February 4th at the Vuelta Valenciana, followed by Andalucia and Paris-Nice. Then it will be at the Belgian classics up to Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia. At the end of the year there will be 80 archived races.
As a rider Fabio Baldato made his mark both in stage races and in the classics: he won four stages at the Giro, two at the Tour, two at the Vuelta and much more, he was second twice at the Flanders, once at the Roubaix and once at the Milan-Sanremo. A mine of experience and tricks of the trade, in short.
The technical apprentice is Gianluca Brambilla, 38 years old, the last 16 spent cycling among the professionals with a stage at the Giro and one at the Vuelta as standout results. At Q36.5 he is already directing those who until yesterday were his teammates. On October 19th he pinned the last number at the Veneto Classic (34th), he hurried to complete the sports director courses in Switzerland and Tom Pidcock’s team has already taken him on board for the first training camp in Spain. His debut as a coach will be at the Tour of Oman, from 7 to 11 February.
from Il Giornale di Vicenza
