Roberto had a standout season in 2025, establishing himself as one of the most promising young riders in Europe.

Capello grew up in the small city of Asti, Italy, approximately 50km from Turin, and came to cycling through soccer. The local countryside provided him with the perfect terrain on which to develop as a rider, and after shining in Italy’s under-17 ranks, he kicked on massively, especially this year, in which he has demonstrated his all-round ability as one of the most precocious talents in the junior ranks.

“I started racing in 2022, but before that, I was a soccer player. My best position was in central defence, but I wasn’t particularly good or bad. It was just for fun, but I played for about ten years, as most kids do in Italy. However, when my dad started riding his bike in 2017, I bought a road bike a year later. It was gradual for me, because at first it was very casual and I was riding with my friends until I was a bit older, and then I began to take cycling a bit more seriously,” Roberto told us.

“I raced for a small team as an under-17 rider before moving up into the juniors, with my first year in Italy and then my second season abroad, and this year I’ve had my biggest step in terms of results and experience,” he added.

2024 saw Capello have a really promising year on the road but this season he’s made huge strides, with several stand out results, including a win in the junior national time trial championships, impressive performances in the road race and time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, and then a well-deserved second place in the junior road race at the European Championships in France, where he went on the attack with a long-range move that almost netted him the title.

Seen as a rider who can climb and time trial, Roberto is genuinely excited by the idea of zipping up an EF Education-Aevolo jersey next season and starting the next chapter of his career as a fully-fledged U23 rider.

“I like everything about this team, from the philosophy of EF Education-Aevolo, right through to the way they race and educate riders on and off the bike. If you look from the outside, it’s a professional set-up, but without some of the stressful environments that you see in other places,” he said.

“I had conversations with Jonathan Vaughters during the year, and then I talked with the head of scouting Sebastian Langeveld too, and those chats were very promising in terms of how they felt I could develop,” he added.

It’s clear from Roberto’s results this season and in the past that he has the skill set to develop into an all-rounder. His attacking performances, first at the world championship road race, where he launched a huge attack in the closing stages, and then at the European championships, demonstrated his flair and confidence in one-day races. However, he has also shone in the stage races this year, with a third-place finish in the Course de la Paix Juniors being one of his best results.

“It’s hard to say what sort of rider I’ll develop into because I think that I can be good when it comes to long efforts, and that fits different styles of racing. I’m definitely not a sprinter because I don’t have that raw speed, but when it comes to being in breaks or longer climbs, I think I can develop into a strong all-rounder. I can’t say that I’m good at everything, but I think that I can perform in a number of different races. In the future, I believe I will be able to ride well on long climbs. We don’t really have many of them in the junior ranks, but I hope to show my ability there next season in the U23 category,” he said.

“I think my best performance this year came in the European championships. After the worlds in Rwanda, I came home for a week, and I was absolutely flying. That was the best form I’ve had in my life, but I think that most of my racing season was good. I was always on a good level, and it was only one or two days where I had a hard time, and I think that can be improved with more experience and better preparation,” he said.

Roberto will make the short trip from Italy to Spain later this month to meet and greet his new teammates at EF Education-Aevolo. Along with getting to know the team, he’ll have the chance to enjoy some off-season training rides and sit down with the coaches and staff to plan his upcoming campaign. The young rider is certainly ambitious, but most of all, he wants to learn and progress before eventually making that step into the WorldTour with the team.

“Next season, I just want to continue my progression. I've grown a lot this year and improved, but I want to learn as much as possible and become a strong rider for the team. If there’s a chance to even step up and do some races with the WorldTour team next season, that would be a big objective for me. We’ve talked about that as a possibility, but the main priority is to develop, learn and be a good rider for EF Education-Aevolo,” Roberto said.

“With Capello, he’s a talent that I’d compare to another of our new recruits, Mattia Agostinacchio, who has signed for our WorldTour team. I think Roberto is similar but just not as far along on his developmental curve,” EF Pro Cycling CEO Jonathan Vaughters said.

“Roberto, to me, has so many qualities. He can climb, time trial, recover well, and has great bike-handling skills, allowing him to sustain an effort for a long time. In the La Classique des Alpes Juniors race earlier this year, he attacked from the start and was out there all day long before finishing third. He’s shown a lot of stage racing attributes, but he just needs a bit more time before we really see that. For me, he’s got the magical combination that all successful stage racers have,” Vaughters said.

We’re all looking forward to meeting you at training camp, Roberto, and helping you develop into a successful rider.