Another major international cycling talent is set to make her elite debut in 2026 wearing the colours of UAE Development Team. Italian rider Giada Silo, 18 years old, former Italian Junior Road Champion and fifth-place finisher at the 2025 Junior UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, will join the Emirati team for next season.
Born on 4 February 2007 and hailing from Villaga, in the province of Vicenza, Silo has signed a one-year contract with the development team of UAE Team ADQ, becoming the latest young prospect to reinforce the United Arab Emirates’ programme.
Giada Silo began cycling at the age of nine – a love at first sight sparked by her father, who took her to a velodrome near home. That very same evening she returned with a kit bag and a bike, ready to begin her journey in the sport. Her progression has been steady, and in 2024 she enjoyed the most important season of her young career, claiming six victories, including the Junior Women’s Road Italian Championship.
“Wearing the ‘tricolore’ jersey has been the most emotional moment of my career so far. It also gave me the chance to represent Italy at the World Championships in Zurich, where I think I rode one of my best races, even though cramps in the finale affected the result,” Silo said. “This 2025 season has been tough because of several crashes that forced me to stop for a while. Despite that, I was still selected for the World Championships in Rwanda, where I believe I could have done even better, but finishing fifth remains a great result.”
Silo is a pure climber. “I love races with long climbs, breakaway opportunities, and summit finishes.”
UAE Development Team has been following her talent for some time. “I got in touch with the team through my agent, and back in January I joined their training camp. Later in the season, I also spent time at altitude camp with them. These experiences helped me understand how the team works, and I really liked the environment. All of this convinced me that this is the right place to continue growing,” she explained.
Looking ahead, Silo outlined her goals for this new adventure: “My main aim next season will be to develop as a rider. I’ll try to integrate into the team as best as I can and learn how to move within a big professional group. It will be my first year among the elites, so results won’t be the priority, but I won’t hide that I’d love to stand out in a positive way. I’m also thinking about the next World Championships – it will be another very demanding course that suits me well, so participation would mean a lot.”
As for the future, she added: “I want to work on improving my time trial skills, which I’ve always slightly neglected, and of course I also want to get better at sprinting.”
Melissa Moncada, President of UAE Team ADQ, said: “Giada Silo is a major talent we’ve been following for a long time, and she has already had the opportunity to spend time with our team. Her strong performance at the last World Championships convinced us even further that she is an athlete we want to invest in for the future.”
(ph. Flaviano Ossola)
