After ten seasons with our team, the Italian champion will race on to the next stage in his career. We have had an unforgettable ride together. Everyone at EF Pro Cycling is grateful for the contributions that Alberto made to our organization during his formative years as a racer.

There were a lot of highlights on the road. The first win of Alberto’s career was a Monument: the 2019 Tour of Flanders. He’d joined us as a 20-year-old, fresh out of the juniors. Watching him grow during his first years as a pro made the Flemish beer taste that much sweeter when we toasted his victory. We had nurtured Alberto’s talent and created a squad where he could feel at home.

With our team, Alberto has since matured into one of the most formidable racers on the WorldTour circuit. His 2021 Giro d’Italia stage win was vintage Bettiol: a long race with punchy climbs at the end; once he had blasted off and set his mind on the finish line, no one was going to catch him till he crossed it with his arms in the air. That’s how he won Milano-Torino this spring. That is how he won his Italian championship.

“It has been an honor to work with Alberto for the past decade,” says EF Pro Cycling founder and CEO Jonathan Vaughters. “When he joined us, he was just a kid and now he is a champion. Some of my favorite memories from the past ten years with the team have been Alberto’s victories. His Giro stage was incredible. So was his Ronde van Vlaanderen. I am proud of the racer he has become with our organization. Blue skies and tailwinds, Alberto."

Alberto will cherish the time that we spent together too.

"When I came to this team, I was really young," he says. "Coming to an American team was pretty different, but I got used to it and it became like a family. Our first contact was amazing. JV brought the whole team sailing in the Caribbean sea for five days. I was really, really excited. That first moment was one of the best and one I will always bring with me. Another good memory was when Rigo finished second at the Tour de France. I’d shared a room with Rigo for three weeks. Me and my teammates were cheering at the bottom of the podium on the Champs Élysées. That was also my first Tour de France, so it was pretty special. There are a lot of others. Of course, the Tour of Flanders. It was my first victory in professional cycling. It was also the first year with EF in the team and everybody was so, so happy. I felt so proud. One of the last was to race in the EF jersey in Florence, in my hometown. I will always bring with me the things I learned and be close to my friends on the team. I’m glad I could finish my time with EF as national champion, to bring the jersey to the Tour. I grew up as a person and as a cyclist here. I learned a lot."

Alberto’s contributions to EF Pro Cycling go far beyond his results. Although he will no longer join us around the dinner table at race hotels, we’ll always make sure to have the best Tuscan olive oil at meals and be sure not to pass the salt hand-to-hand. No one on our team will ever chop their spaghetti into bits again. And anyone sneaking a cappuccino after 11 will be looking over their shoulder for years to come.

We are going to miss Alberto’s presence on the bus. Before a stressful race, we could always count on him for a calming word, ‘tranquillo, tranquillo’. He would then share his experience, breaking down the course into its key points, telling our younger riders how they could manage the challenge best, and drawing on all of the times he had ridden the races to give us advice for how he expected the day to play out.

After 11 seasons as a pro and 10 with our team, Alberto has decided it is time for the next stage in his career. We wish him all the very best of luck.

In bocca al lupo, Alberto!