UAE Team ADQ has strengthened its roster and staff with the addition of Silvia Persico and Davide Arzeni, who will move to the World Tour team from the successful 2023 Valcar Travel & Services.

Persico will assume a leadership position, while Arzeni aims to boost the project, which currently ranks seventh and eighth in the UCI world rankings and the Women's WorldTour Team rankings.

Persico, who has signed a three-year contract with UAE Team ADQ through 2025, said, "I am looking forward to three very positive and important years for my career.

"I come from a team like Valker, where I grew up as a kid, and now I have chosen UAE Team ADQ to continue on the best path of growth. This season has helped me understand a lot of things and being more free has allowed me to win my space. I think I proved that I can be a leader. And with my new team I can improve and gain even more experience." [The 25-year-old from Alzano Lombardo, Italy, started the season with a bronze medal at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships and finished the season with a bronze medal at the UCI Road World Championships.

She also finished fifth overall at the Tour de France Femme in July, finishing seven of the eight stages inside the top 10.

She told Cycling News at the Tour de France Femme that she would be leaving Valcar Travel & Services in 2023 to sign a contract with a WorldTour team.

In an interview with Cycling News, she made the emotional revelation while thanking Valcar Travel & Service and coach Arzeni, who coached her for six years. 'I am here now because of Davide. He encouraged me to challenge myself and helped me to do well in this team," Persico said.

"Valcar is like a second family. I am convinced that I am where I am today because of the people at Valcar who have helped me during the six years I have been here. I thank Valentino Villa and Davide Arzeni. I am very happy to be part of this team."

UAE Team ADQ will take over from former Ale BTC Ljubljana at the start of the 2022 season and will be led by big-name riders like former world champion Marta Bastianelli and Spanish champion Mavi Garcia.

Garcia will move to Liv Racing Xstra next year, with Persico taking the lead role on the team. UAE Team ADQ also announced returning riders Sofia Bertizolo, Erika Magnardi, Laura Tomasi, Anna Trevisi, Eugenia Bujak, Alena Ivanchenko, Linda Zanetti, and Safiya Al Sayegh. Several new additions will be announced in the near future.

"It is definitely very positive to know that our team and our work as female athletes can be a source of inspiration for many women, especially in the Arab world. It is a great honor for me to share these values about sports and women's empowerment," Persico said.

"I am happy to be a part of this new team and I think it is important that I quickly get to know my new group and find harmony with my new teammates.

Team director Arseny admitted to Cycling News that he too will be leaving Valcar Travel & Services to join UAE Team ADQ in 2023 as director. He said it was a tough decision to leave Valcar Travel & Services after working with Valentino Villa to grow the team into one of the most successful development teams in the world.

"Leaving Valcar after seven years was not easy, but in sports in general there is a cycle of coaches, even if the winning lasts up to five or six years. I have been at Valcar for seven years and it is still going very well."

Arseny told Cycling News that after discussing the possibility of joining UAE team ADQ with coach Rubens Bertogliati in March, he officially signed a contract in May to become the team's new coach next year.

"I have had many offers, but as you know, I like to build teams and I like to start with projects based on respect for the person first, rather than the rider.

Arseny said Persico is just one of several Valcar Travel & Service riders expected to be promoted to the World Tour in 2023 with UAE Team ADQ, to be announced later.

"It is true that some Valcar Travel & Service riders will also be moving here, and it would be hypocritical of me to deny that, but I cannot say who those riders will be yet."

He said that the decision to move from Valcar Travel & Service to UAE team ADQ was not linked to the riders' decision, but that he hoped they would be able to choose for themselves.

"All I can say is that my choice and their choice were two different things. I don't know if I made the decision first or they made the decision first. I chose without knowing and I would have chosen the UAE with or without them.

Arseny told Cycling News at the Tour de France Femme that despite being ranked 7th in the UCI World Ranking and 10th in the Women's World Tour Ranking, he did not expect Valcar Travel & Service to apply for a World Team license in 2023. He explained.

He said that with riders like Persico working under the best riders in the world like world champion Elisa Balsamo (now with Trek-Segafredo) and Marta Cavalli (now with FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) while with Valcar Travel & Service, He admitted that he learned how to race.

He hopes the team will remain a prominent continental-level development team for up-and-coming riders. He also believes that Valcar Travel & Service will play an important role and hopes that in the future it will become a feeder team for existing World Tour teams.

"I don't know what will happen. I just hope that these development teams receive important help from the cycling world as a whole: teams like Valcar, or teams from other countries like Parkhotel Valkenburg, are an essential step for riders who want to reach the top in the Women's World Tour. The numbers show it. Growth has to be gradual."