The new project by Ambrogio Beccaria, one of the most talented Italian navigators, supported by Mapei as Main Sponsor, was presented today in Milan at the Mapei Showroom, marking the beginning of a new oceanic adventure: Allagrande Mapei Racing.
A project with a European feel, which combines Italian imagination and flair 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 novelty.
After successes in the Mini 6.50 class and in the 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 level at the 2028 Vendée Globe, the solo round-the-world race.
"Having the opportunity" - comments Beccaria - "to continue a path of growth that began some time ago is a great privilege for me. Competing in this class is really the best, I don't want anything else. I've never even had the courage to dream so big... And now that I'm here, I know there will be tough challenges ahead, but I'm motivated to learn from the ocean and, if possible, win a few races."
"Sponsors," continues Beccaria, "have a unique value in this sport, their energy involves the entire team and for us it is a great fortune to have Mapei as a partner. They know the sport well, thanks to their experience with cycling and football, and they know that in difficult times it is essential to be self-critical and improve. We have known each other for three years and our relationship is now solid. Mapei is a reliable sponsor and also very affectionate".
"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, recognising in him those values of sport that have always been part of the company's DNA: passion, tenacity, grit in facing new challenges. A very tough sporting and technological adventure that, we are sure, will also take our brand far. Mapei is a multinational company present in 57 countries around the world, internationalisation is one of the pillars of our strategy. Supporting a project that aims to travel around the world, the ocean as a stage and involves international teams is a natural choice for us".
"I have been following Ambrogio since his first Mini-Transat. – adds Simona Giorgetta, member of Mapei's Board of Directors – He is a pure talent, with an uncommon determination. This is also why in 2022 we boarded his Class40 which marked an important, all-Italian chapter in ocean sailing and led him to achieve exceptional goals. Today Ambrogio asks us to still believe in him and in his team and to face a new, even more demanding challenge, towards a broader horizon, aboard an IMOCA, with the aim of arriving at the dream of every ocean sailor: the Vendée Globe. And we, with enthusiasm, are ready to face this challenge together with him".
For Beccaria and his team, this is the first time in the world of the IMOCA (acronym for International Monohull Open Class Association), considered the "queen" of the ocean classes.
The Allagrande Mapei Racing team is made up of a team of about 20 people, men and women of different nationalities. At the helm of the team will be the thirty-three-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.
Designed by Antoine Koch, designer and navigator, and the Finot-Conq studio, which makes its great return to 60-foot ocean-going 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 2024 Vendée Globe.
After the presentation of the boat "Allagrande Mapei" to the press in July in Lorient, Brittany, where Ambrogio has its headquarters, Beccaria will make his debut as skipper in this class by participating in two important competitions: The Ocean Race Europe (10 August 2025) and the historic transatlantic TransatCafé l'Or (26 October 2025).
For the first period of activity, until December 2025, Allagrande Mapei Racing announces a technical and human resources collaboration with the TRR team, which with its already long experience in the ocean is the perfect accelerator for the ambitious project of the Milanese navigator.
"This collaboration - says Beccaria - will last a few months and is an incredible opportunity for us to grow. It's a bit like standing on the shoulders of giants to learn from the best and it's also a way to gradually enter a complex world like that of IMOCAs. In December 2025 this synergy will end on a technical level, but a sporting collaboration will continue, with joint training".
The Mapei Sport Research Centre, a scientific excellence that provides assistance to athletes to help them improve their performance through tests and training programmes, will continue to support Ambrogio Beccaria in terms of athletic training, sports medical assistance and nutrition. The structure, equipped with an advanced human performance lab for the determination of physiological qualities, a biomechanical analysis laboratory and a training department dedicated to the optimization of individual training, will make all its multidisciplinary know-how available to the sailor. In agreement with Ambrogio, Mapei Sport will also continue to collect data during ocean crossings in order to better understand the body's response to this particular type of activity. Through this in-depth scientific study, it will thus 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 to collaborate with universities and research institutes all over the world.
Allagrande Mapei Racing is an oceanic team, and as such has developed a strong awareness of the fragility of the environment that hosts it. Science, Impact and Dissemination: these are the points on which the strategy of the Allagrande Mapei Racing (AMGR) team is based.
Science- In collaboration with The Ocean Race, a machine capable of filtering water and collecting microplastics while sailing is installed on board. The samples collected will then be provided to international scientific bodies - 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- The operation of an ocean sail project has an impact. During the year 2025, the goal is to calculate and quantify CO2 emissions equivalent related to the project through LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) studies, so as to develop a concrete strategy to reduce them in future years.
Dissemination- Ambrogio Beccaria, his team and Mapei strongly believe in the power that sport has to inspire people, and in the importance of everyone's role in protecting the oceans. With a dissemination activity with schools, associations, foundations and research institutes as well as through podcasts and television programs, the goal is to raise public awareness of the environmental impact of many of our daily choices, telling how our seas change through the sailing adventures of Ambrogio and his team.
To stay up to date on the challenges, regattas and behind-the-scenes of Ambrogio Beccaria and Mapei's IMOCA project, the official @allagrandemapei page has been created. Exclusive content, on-board videos, technical insights and moments from the life of the team will be posted here.
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