Three Italians, Oliveira's protégé, a former MotoE rider, the Maltese 'from Sicily'... What stories in the 2026 Rookies Cup!

Two Italians confirmed and a new arrival, but there are other interesting names: here is the list for the new Rookies Cup season.

There will be three of our youngsters at the start of the new Red Bull Rookies Cup season. Giulio Pugliese is the “veteran,” entering his third season in the KTM one-make series, while Cristian Borrelli is the tricolor rookie after passing last October’s selections in Guadix. We can also add Luca Agostinelli, a rider from Terni originally from Vietnam, the flag he races under. But let’s look at the list of newcomers, which is particularly interesting: this year there’s also a protégé of Miguel Oliveira, Afonso Almeida, viewed at home as a new hope on the road to MotoGP after his mentor’s move to World Superbike. For Spain we count the arrival of Fernando Bujosa and Carlos Cano, ETC 2025 champion and runner-up.

The presence of young Maltese rider Travis Borg will also be very interesting: in a way, we can say we know him in Italy too, since in 2022 he won the CNV Moto17 Sicily championship, then continued his development as a rider in Spain. Also quite curious is the selection of a former MotoE rider, Hungarian Tibor Varga, who this year is splitting his time between the Moto2 European Championship in FIM JuniorGP and, indeed, the Red Bull Rookies Cup. Then there’s Colombian Mateo Marulanda, an AC Racing rider in Moto4 within JuniorGP, born in the South American country and whose family moved to Spain to follow his dream. Lastly, here is Archie Schmidt, a new young Australian prospect who started out in off-road before switching to road racing.

Travis Borg (Malta)
Fernando Bujosa (Spain)
Afonso Almeida (Portugal)
Cristian Borrelli (Italy)
Carlos Cano (Spain)
Mateo Marulanda (Colombia)
Tibor Varga (Hungary)
Archie Schmidt (Australia)