Tommaso Dati’s career has moved quickly in 2026. A season on a Japanese Continental licence at Team UKYO turned into a two-year WorldTour contract at XDS Astana, announced on 30 September, that keeps him on the team’s books through 2028.

The single result the recruiters kept coming back to was his win over Pidcock in Innsbruck on 20 April. Dati held off the Pinarello Q36.5 leader at the end of the opening stage of the Tour of the Alps, a 144.3-kilometre loop around the Austrian capital, with Florian Stork third. Pidcock went on to close out the season fifth in the UCI world ranking, a measure of what Dati came past.

Speaking to Domestique Cycling, Dati described Innsbruck as the moment that opened the door to the top tier.

“At the Tour of the Alps, it wasn’t only the stage and the level of the race. To beat Tom was the real deal. I even told him after the race that it was a pleasure for me.”

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Why Astana, not a bigger brand

Dati told Domestique Cycling he picked XDS Astana because the team’s race program was built around stage hunters and would let him ease into the WorldTour rather than be swallowed by it. He also pointed to the Italian contingent around him at the squad. Alberto Bettiol, Lorenzo Fortunato and Christian Scaroni are already there, and Andrea Bagioli arrives from Lidl-Trek on his own two-year deal for 2027.

The 2026 season he is now trying to follow up was unusually broad for a rider at third-division level. Beyond Innsbruck, he opened the year with a stage win at Coppi e Bartali in March, won the prologue and two stages at the Tour of Japan, took road-race gold at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto in August, finished second to Jonathan Milan at the Italian national championships and ended with a close second at Coppa Bernocchi in October. Eight wins by the end of it.

The 2027 challenge he set himself

He did not pitch 2027 as a WorldTour winning campaign. Dati told Domestique Cycling he saw the ProSeries as the realistic level for immediate victories, and the Ardennes Classics as the right shape of race for his profile: short climbs, short efforts and a reduced bunch sprint at the end.

“I still have a lot to improve and I have to get a lot of experience in the WorldTour. But after a season like that, I want to win some races to build my confidence and show everyone I wasn’t a one-season wonder. This is the work of years.”

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He signed the two-year Astana contract in June, before the Taranto gold and before the Coppa Bernocchi near miss. His first race days in the XDS Astana jersey are due at the opening of the 2027 calendar.

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