IN SEARCH OF THE NEXT CHAMPION
Interview with Denis Favretto
To truly understand what SIDI represents in the world of cycling today, it is necessary to start from further back — from an Italian province where the bicycle is not just a sport, but almost a native language. And it helps to ask people like Denis Favretto, Racing Manager at SIDI, who has always spoken that language.
Denis comes from Musile di Piave, in the province of Venice, one of the many areas of Italy where cycling is a popular culture made up of training sessions, local races, rain, travel, and Sundays spent chasing the peloton. At the age of six, he was already on a bike — not as a hobby, but to race. Race after race, he moved through all the youth categories up to Under-23 level, the final step before turning professional. At twenty-one, however, he realised that his dream of becoming a professional athlete would not turn into a career. “I stopped because I became aware that I could not become a champion,” he says with a smile, “but I kept hoping to remain connected to the world of cycling in some way.”
And so began his second race — his professional one. Just as he had started working as a metalworker, he received an unexpected call: with only a few days to go before the start of the Giro d’Italia, a friend told him that someone was needed to follow the Selle Italia promotional caravan. It was meant to be a one-month contract, but Denis left without hesitation. That month would last thirteen years. At Selle Italia, Denis grew by taking on a variety of roles: events, quality, retail relationships, commercial activities, and sports marketing. Above all, he learned a principle that he now considers central: in cycling, a product is never truly created in an office — it is born on the road, in races, through constant dialogue with those who ride at the limit.
It is a belief he brought with him when he joined SIDI in April 2018, where he initially supported the racing cycling division. His arrival coincided with a period of profound transformation for the company, which has changed significantly in recent years. “When people ask me what the difference is between SIDI then and SIDI today, I say it is like changing jobs while staying in the same place,” he explains.
The family business built around its founder, Dino Signori, has progressively evolved into a more structured and managerial organisation, focused on international development and innovation. Within this transformation, Denis has taken on an increasingly strategic role. Today, as Racing Manager (cycling), he coordinates relationships with more than 200 athletes across road, gravel, cross-country, downhill and professional teams. But reducing his work to sponsorship management would be limiting.
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His role is, above all, to build connections: between athletes and the company, between technical insight and production, between sporting needs and product development. At SIDI, the relationship with athletes has never been just about marketing; it is part of the company’s DNA. “SIDI is a racing company — performance has always been at its core.” This culture originates from the personality of its founder, Dino Signori, a former amateur cyclist with a deeply competitive spirit, who “created an almost obsessive approach to product and performance. In the past, production was even halted to create customised shoes for an athlete in urgent need,” Denis recalls. “Not as a whim, but out of the conviction that professional athletes’ requests are a source of innovation.” A belief that has translated into reality: this is how ideas have emerged that led, for example, to adjustable cleats for improved biomechanical positioning, rotational systems for closure adjustment, and protective elements applied to boots. “Made in SIDI” innovations born from real issues encountered in competitive use, which later became industry standards.
Even today, the approach has not changed: athletes remain at the centre of development, and the company creates highly customised footwear for them. Every need, intuition and piece of feedback is collected and translated into technical development. This is where Denis’s role becomes crucial. His job is not limited to selecting the strongest athletes — he must identify, ahead of others, who has the potential to become a champion. For this reason, he focuses particularly on youth categories, minor competitions, the Giro Next Gen, and women’s cycling. “For my job, it is more useful to be at the Under-23 Giro than at the main Giro,” he explains. Scouting, however, is not only about sporting talent. The person matters too.
“We need to be certain that the athlete aligns with the company’s values.” Before contracts come conversations, dinners and face-to-face meetings. Mutual understanding, human compatibility and openness are assessed. Only afterwards do testing, fitting and customisation begin. It is a long process, built on trust. “The best relationships between a brand and an athlete can last a lifetime — not only for financial reasons, but because a deep alignment develops, based on mutual reliability. The athlete knows they can rely on the company at any time, and we know we receive authentic, valuable insights, often crucial for improving our products.”
When asked about his future goals, Denis responds with the confidence of someone who is already where he wants to be, and who sees the evolution of his role as the most meaningful objective — in his case, involving the champions or teams he would like to see wearing SIDI. Because for him, there is no clear boundary between work and passion: cycling is simply his natural environment. Perhaps this is precisely what makes his role so central to SIDI — the ability to exist simultaneously in two worlds: the industrial world of the company and the emotional world of sport. A human bridge, even before a professional one.