Antonio Tiberi raced a Giro d’Italia as an absolute protagonistand his first experience as captain in a three-week race he will finish in the top-5, with the victory of the Maglia Bianca in the ranking of the best young people. A decidedly positive balance sheet for the standard bearer of Bahrain – Victorious, born in 2001 and best prospect for several years now for Italy in the big stage races. Very solid in the time trial, super competitive on the big climbs, still a little immature when it comes to responding to sharp sprints.
Even in the twentieth fraction the blue proved to be complete in every waywith exponential growth compared to last year. Tiberi finished today’s stage in Bassano in 4th placetaking it upon himself to try to follow the phenomenon Tadej Pogacar on Monte Grappa and detaching both Geraint Thomas and Ben O’Connor. Upon arrival today, the gap from the pink jersey is 2’07”, while the final fifth place in the standings is 12’52” behind the dominant Slovenian. In the end, the podium was only a little more than two minutes away, coincidentally the time left on the table at the Oropa Sanctuary, in one of the Italian’s two difficult days, also spoiled by a double puncture which was definitely not needed.
However, these are things that are part of cycling, and Tiberi will certainly have the chance to get on the Giro podium in the years to come. After the arrival the young Italian is still satisfied, even if exhausted: “Now yes, I can say it’s done, it’s truly a unique emotion for me, I’m very happy“. The Italian was liked for his competitiveness, but above all for his conduct during the match, always proactive and never giving up: “As I said from the first day, from the first attacks I made I was made like this in character. When I feel that my leg is good I always like to show off“.
“As they say, Italy has been missing someone who puts on a show for a long time– the class of 2001 continues in an analysis as a veteran and a real man – that makes people passionate. And this is exactly what I like to do, entertain people; even more so when I’m uphill and I feel the audience cheering me on, when I see messages from people telling me let’s have fun. Maybe sometimes I risk making a mistake by making some attacks too early, but I prefer it that way. I’m still young anyway and I prefer to entertain the public“.
We have inevitably arrived in budget time, and the only regret is that of Oropa: “Surely without that bad luck it would have been another Giro. Unfortunately at the start of the climb I got a puncture and changed bikes. Having taken the spare one, after two or three hundred meters I felt that the front wheel was springing, so I realized I had punctured that again too. There it closed again and so I preferred to continue with that, also because there wasn’t another bike“.
An unexpected event that has changed the cards on the table, but which will be useful for the future: “I was a bit scared and agitated. In any case, I tried to recover as much as possible, but I lost a lot of time“. Despite this, Tiberi continued with his mentality during all the remaining stages, trying every time his legs turned and defending himself tooth and nail when the day wasn’t so positive. Finally Italy can dream again, with the one who definitely seems the most ready and complete to give an exploit in the big stage races.
