The new project by Ambrogio Beccaria, one of the most talented Italian sailors, and Mapei, Main Sponsor and multinational leader in chemical products for construction, was presented today in Milan at the Mapei Showroom, marking the beginning of a new sailing adventure: Allagrande Mapei Racing.
A European-scale project that combines Italian imagination and creativity with the solidity and experience of the French nautical tradition. Based in Lorient, Brittany, and with strong roots in Milan, where it was born, the project makes its international soul a point of strength and innovation.
After his successes in the Mini 6.50 class and Class40, Beccaria launches his next season in the IMOCA 60 class. An ambitious step made possible thanks to the trust of a partner like Mapei, which is committed to a large-scale project with a common goal: to compete at the highest levels in the 2028 Vendée Globe, the solo round-the-world race.
The event, moderated by presenter Daniela Collu, was attended by, in addition to the sailor, Veronica Squinzi, CEO of Mapei, and Simona Giorgetta, board member of Mapei.
"Having the opportunity," - comments Beccaria – "to continue a growth path started some time ago is a great privilege for me. Competing in this class is truly the best. I couldn't wish for anything better. I never even had the courage to dream this big... and now that I'm here, I know there will be tough challenges to face, but I'm motivated to learn from the ocean and, if possible, to win a few races."
"Sponsors," – continues Beccaria – "have a unique value in this sport, their energy involves the whole team and for us it’s a great fortune to have Mapei as a partner. They know sport well, thanks to their experience with cycling and football, and they know that in difficult moments it's essential to be self-critical and improve. We've known each other for three years and our relationship is now solid. Mapei is a reliable and also very affectionate sponsor."
"We are proud to support this new, innovative and courageous project by Ambrogio Beccaria," – comments Veronica Squinzi, CEO of Mapei –. "Mapei immediately believed in Ambrogio, recognizing in him those sporting values that have always been part of the company's DNA: passion, tenacity, grit in facing new challenges. A tough sporting and technological adventure which, we are sure, will also take our brand far. Mapei is a multinational present in 57 countries around the world, internationalization is one of the pillars of our strategy. Supporting a project whose goal is to sail around the world, with the ocean as a stage and involving international teams, is a natural choice for us."
"I have followed Ambrogio since his first Mini-Transat" – adds Simona Giorgetta, member of the Mapei Board of Directors – "He is a pure talent, with an extraordinary determination. That’s also why in 2022 we came aboard his Class40, which marked an important, entirely Italian chapter in offshore sailing and led him to achieve exceptional results. Today Ambrogio asks us to believe in him and his team once again and to face a new, even more demanding challenge, towards a broader horizon, aboard an IMOCA, with the aim of reaching the dream of every offshore sailor: the Vendée Globe. And we, with enthusiasm, are ready to face this challenge with him."
For Beccaria and his team, this is the first time in the IMOCA world (acronym for International Monohull Open Class Association), considered the "queen" of offshore classes. It is a class famous for hosting the fastest monohulls in the world, the only ones allowed to participate in the Vendée Globe. Founded in 1991 by major sailors including Isabelle Autissier and Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, it includes 60-foot monohulls. Since 2016, IMOCAs have been equipped with foils, underwater wings capable of lifting boats out of the water, and "flying" across the oceans achieving extraordinary performances.
The Allagrande Mapei Racing team is made up of a group of about 20 people – present today in Milan were Tiphaine Renard, Bastian Oger, Carlos Olsson, Laure Lunven, Victor Jost and Bianca Bertolini – men and women of different nationalities, eager to test themselves at sea as on land, with the most important offshore races around the world, and to communicate, through those extraordinary competitions that are ocean crossings, the positive values of this unique and complex discipline. Leading the team will be 33-year-old Beccaria, the first Italian to win the Mini-Transat in 2019, who then also won the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2023 and the Transat CIC in 2024. His record and talent make him no longer a young promise, but a true champion, worthy of the international stage and ready to challenge the best sailors in the world.
Designed by Antoine Koch, designer and sailor, and the Finot-Conq studio, making its big return to 60-foot ocean monohulls, “Allagrande Mapei” is a boat that combines performance and reliability. It is the boat with which Thomas Ruyant won the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2023 and with which he participated in the Vendée Globe 2024.
After the press presentation of the boat “Allagrande Mapei” in July in Lorient, Brittany, where Ambrogio has his headquarters, Beccaria will make his debut as a skipper in this class by participating in two major competitions: The Ocean Race Europe (August 10, 2025) and the historic transatlantic Transat Café de l’Or (October 26, 2025).
For the initial period until December 2025, Allagrande Mapei Racing announces a technical and human resource collaboration with TRR, a team whose long ocean experience is the perfect accelerator for the Milanese sailor’s ambitious project.
“This collaboration,” says Beccaria, “will last a few months and is an incredible growth opportunity for us. It’s a bit like standing on the shoulders of giants to learn from the best and a way to gradually enter a complex world like that of IMOCA. In December 2025 this technical synergy will end, but a sporting collaboration with joint training sessions will continue.”
The Mapei Sport Research Center, a scientific excellence that supports athletes to help them improve their performance through tests and training programs, will continue to support Ambrogio Beccaria with physical preparation, medical-sports assistance, and nutrition.
Equipped with an advanced human performance lab for determining physiological qualities, a biomechanical analysis laboratory, and a training department dedicated to optimizing individual training, it will make all its multidisciplinary know-how available to the sailor.
In agreement with Ambrogio, Mapei Sport will also continue data collection during ocean crossings to better understand the body's response to this very particular type of activity. Through this scientific research, it will be possible to contribute to the growth of the discipline, in line with the mission of applied scientific research that has led Mapei Sport to publish over 150 scientific papers and collaborate with universities and research institutes around the world.
Allagrande Mapei Racing is an offshore team, and as such, it has developed a strong awareness of the fragility of the environment that hosts it.
This project is born and lives on the ocean and is therefore a daily observer of the issues that affect it. Science, Impact, and Dissemination are the three pillars of the Allagrande Mapei Racing (AGMR) strategy.
Science - In collaboration with The Ocean Race, a machine capable of filtering water and collecting microplastics while sailing is installed onboard. The collected samples will then be provided to international scientific institutions – including the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton (UK), Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Geesthacht (Germany), and Politecnico di Milano (Italy) – which will study their characteristics and distribution.
Impact - Running an offshore sailing project has an impact. During 2025, the goal is to calculate and quantify CO₂ equivalent emissions linked to the project’s operation through LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) studies, in order to develop a concrete strategy to reduce them in the coming years.
Disclosure - Ambrogio Beccaria, his team, and Mapei strongly believe in the power of sport to inspire people, and in the importance of everyone’s role in protecting the oceans. Through outreach activities with schools, associations, foundations, and research institutions, as well as via podcasts and television programs, the goal is to raise public awareness of the environmental impact of our daily choices, by telling the story of how our seas are changing through the sailing adventures of Ambrogio and his team.
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.jpg?sfvrsn=7baf308b_7 "Ambrogio Beccaria")
