Edoardo Affini on the best season of his career: “I wouldn’t say I grew wings, but it was certainly a confirmation of my form"

Cycling
Thursday, 19 December 2024 at 19:00
edoardoaffini

Having signed with Team Visma | Lease a Bike in 2021, Edoardo Affini finally seemed to reach the potential he had shown over the past few years. This year he won the European time-trial Championships, but has had plenty other performances that proved to be quite worthy.

“I think this was one of my best seasons ever. The start of the year was challenging due to crashes involving our team leaders, but even then, we had great moments," Affini said in a press release. The Italian was then part of the team's cobbled classics block, and support Olav Kooij's sprinting ambitions at the Giro d'Italia.

"Matteo’s [Jorgenson] victory in Paris-Nice and Olav’s [Kooij] stage win in the Giro are memories I’ll cherish for a long time. That period was undoubtedly the best of my season and, honestly, of my entire career. Those were special moments I will always remember".

He put in a few very strong time-trials before the Vuelta a España where he also went on to support Wout van Aert to several sprint wins. “The Vuelta was really tough, and I had never raced a time trial so soon after finishing a Grand Tour. I didn’t know what to expect".

"I wasn’t in the hot seat for long, just a few minutes. The most nerve-wracking moment was when Stefan Küng posted his intermediate time," he shares. "That’s when I started to believe a bit more. In the end, when I saw that he couldn’t match my time, I was able to throw my hands in the air.”

But the highlight of his career came afterwards, as he won the Mixed Relay TTT at the European Championships and the victory in the individual time-trial ahead of Stefan Küng. “I thought of my grandfather right away. He passed at the beginning of the year, and I know he would have loved to see me win. He always believed I could do it. After that, I couldn’t wait to see my family. They were in Hasselt to cheer me on.” He then finished third at the World Championships time-trial, joining Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna on the podium.

“I wouldn’t say I grew wings, but it was certainly a confirmation of my form. We didn’t do anything different this year compared to previous ones. I kept working and training on the time trial bike, and together with the team, we optimized the equipment. These performances also set the stage for what’s to come in 2025," he concluded.

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