Stefano Casiraghi is only 28 years old, but he has already experienced many aspects of cycling: he has been a racer, a mechanic, and a racing assistant. Always with a sole focus, the bicycle, his passion and key means of transport for smart mobility.
Today Stefano, who was born in the Milanese hinterland, is the reference mechanic of the Colpack team (fitted with Pirelli tyres) and he has created a workshop where he provides amateur cyclists with genuine cycling assistance: “The idea is to provide the end user with the treatment a professional would receive on the race track," he explains, proudly describing his workshop under his house. It is "small but clean, well-tended, where customers have everything at their disposal, from the mini-bar with drinks to a bespoke treatment tailored to their particular requirements and those of their bicycle”. For this reason, he works by appointment only, and is often the one to travel to the home of those in need of bicycle care.
After a short career on the saddle, up until the under 23 category, Stefano decided to follow his true calling: "Even when I raced, I was always keener on the technical part of the vehicle. I preferred to spend entire days cleaning and repairing my bicycle, rather than training on its pedals”. That's why he started working in a shop, where he learned to be a successful mechanic.
In the meantime, at the weekends he followed Scott (formerly Shimano) in races, specialising in tyre replacement. He worked in “neutral assistance”, in the cars that follow all the racers and help them when the team's flagships fail. He has followed the women's Giro d'Italia, the Tour of Britain, the Tour de Romandie and two European championships, in The Netherlands and in Glasgow, his favourite race "owing to the spectacular scenery: I love the Anglo-Saxon landscapes".
Spending seven days a week handling bicycles, and in various situations, earned him the call from a large manufacturer of bicycle tyres, Vittoria, where he remained for four years. Here too, he worked on races, both on the road and on mountain bikes.
In 2019, he followed some of the Valcar team races as a mechanic; Valcar is ranked second in the Italian Women's Championship. In 2020, he decided to set up on his own, devoting his time to caring for his private customers and accepting the position with the Colpack team, for whom he has become the official mechanic, coming into contact with the Pirelli universe. Another step towards making his secret dream come true: "Joining a World Tour team as a mechanic is a job that I consider lowly but vital. You always have to be available, and you can't get anything wrong; everything has to be perfect”.
Every now and then, he does ride his bicycle, however: "I mostly enjoy Enduro, both on my bicycle as well as on my motorbike, and in any case always off-road, in the midst of nature. If I have to stay close to home, I go to Monte Canto”. What he is most excited about in regard to the work he does with the professional team is mostly the moving around: "I love travelling, chewing up miles on the road, seeing new places around the world".
In his workshop, where he mainly deals with suspensions, e-bikes and mountain bikes, he loves above all to pamper his customers, treating them and their bicycles as if they were preparing for a real race. He is a professional who assists amateurs, to the punk-rock rhythm of his headphones: "I listen to my music while I work, because I want to be at my best".
The same way people feel after Stefano has tended to their bicycle.
