Names of Luna Rossa cyclists unveiled, Mattia Camboni is among them

Time for choices and official communications for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team ahead of the 2024 America’s Cup. After announcing the names of the women and young people who will participate in the Youth and at the Women America’s Cup , the Italian team disclosed those of the “cyclists” who will be part of the crew of the future AC 75. In fact, as is well known, in this edition of the America’s Cup, legs are also allowed to be used for grinder work, hence the need to have athletes with specific physical and technical characteristics.

Who are the cyclists of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s Power Team includes athletes with different backgrounds and from different sports: from rowing come Romano Battisti (silver medalist at London 2012), Emanuele Liuzzi (Bronze at the World Championships in Sarasota), Bruno Rosetti (Bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics),
Nicholas Brezzi
(seven world championships and multiple medals), Cesare Gabbia (several medals between world and European championships) and Luca Kirwan (participation in the 2019 U23 World Championships).

It is no mystery that Luna Rossa has also been probing the possible interest of World Champion Filippo Ganna, who is still 100 percent committed, however, to his cycling activities with an Olympics just around the corner.

Paolo Simion comes from the world of professional cycling (three Giro d’Italia and winning the last stage of the Tour of Croatia), while Enrico Voltolini, in addition to being boat captain of the AC40, has participated in two Olympic campaigns in Finn and Star and won several international regattas. Finally, Mattia Camboni is a former windsurfing champion (several gold and silver medals and a fifth place at the Tokyo Games). The latter name made some noise, as it was one of the diamond points of Italian windsurfing, who today seems to have abandoned his Olympic career.

What the cyclists on board AC 75 do.

They call them cyclists But they are for all intents and purposes grinders and in fact their role has not changed from what it would be on a classic boat even without a foil: they produce power for on-board adjustments, but they do it with their (more powerful) legs and no longer with their arms.

In fact, their work is not varied from the grinders of the pre-foil era: in fact, Luna Rossa’s cyclists load, with their footwork, the boat’s hydraulic circuits that will then serve everything that moves on board (including the hidden winches): sail adjustments, mast and foil movements, every maneuver aboard the AC 75 is done thanks to the work of the cyclists who bring pressure to the hydraulic circuits and allow the trimmers to adjust the boat.

The physical exertion of an America’s Cup cyclist is enormous, although concentrated in time (the average duration of a race is about 20 to 25 minutes), and because of this the athlete is subjected to a training specific that, in addition to maximizing physical power, takes great care of mobility to prevent injuries (cyclors potentially face two races a day in uncomfortable and unnatural positions that put strain on joints).

Supported by Pharmanutra (the team’s Human Performance Partner) and assisted by physiotherapist Stefano De Pirro, the cyclists also follow a careful diet, designed specifically to boost muscle mass and rebalance kcal loss since, at each race, they burn an average of 600 kcal.