From Remco Evenepoel's domestique to Primoz Roglic's potential right-hand man - "I accepted the team's proposal almost immediately"
Cycling
Gianni Moscon took on a new role this past year with Soudal - Quick-Step and saw his career revitalized after a great experience. He got motivation for the sport once again, did a great job together with Remco Evenepoel and now he can become a luxury domestique for Primoz Roglic.
"After that I will go to altitude training camps to prepare for the first classics of the season. I will ride the Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Sanremo. From there we will evaluate together with the team whether I am more useful for the Giro or the Tour de France," Moscon said in an interview with Bici.Pro.
"I rode some great races and the season was positive. That's why I got the call from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at the end of the Tour de France. They explained their project to me and indicated that they were looking for someone like me: with experience".
Moscon was on the verge of retiring at the end of 2023 but got the call from Patrick Lefevere who suggested signing him to a domestique role, as he'd been with Team Sky earlier in his career. He supported Remco Evenepoel throughout Paris-Nice, Criterium du Dauphiné and Tour de France, being an important support rider for the flat and hilly days.
He is an experienced and versatile rider, and at the end of his one-year contract he already had interest from another top team. "I accepted the team's proposal almost immediately. My role in the first half of the season will mainly be to bring the right experience to the team and support the leaders in the big stage races. The main goal is to contribute the right bit to the team, we'll see about the rest. Also because I'm one of the oldest riders in the team".
"Exactly that: offering the right support to the ambitions of the leaders such as Roglic, Hindley and Martinez. There are many young, strong riders here, but experience was lacking and I feel that I am in the right place. I have learned a lot over the years, also because of my age".
With him being Italian, after a year where he proved himself in the role, and even with a gravel stage likely to be included in the Giro, Moscon is very likely to be present in the first Grand Tour of the season with Roglic.
"Personally, I have always known which path I had to follow, but without the right context it is difficult to get that support. Soudal - Quick-Step is a big team and the riders have everything they need. Here I see that there is a lot more staff compared to other teams, something that comes from a higher budget, but also the guidelines of the team," he shares. "Now I feel that I have a specific role and that I don't have to do three things at the same time".
Chasing his own individual results will be a tough task, specially as every year it takes more and more to be able to climb alongside the best in the classics. "With experience and racing insight I might still be able to achieve something in certain races, but for Flanders or Roubaix it is difficult. Even on the bergs it is about watts per kilo, and if you don't have the legs, you can't do much".
Read also
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- That a very plausible explanation why some of them have tattoos. I'm not aware of such behaviour because I don't follow other sports. Thanks for the explanation even though it may not apply to all scenarios.
KerisVroom12-01-2025 - You realise that’s an extremely ambiguous expression right but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt:-) It may not hold at this level but a lot of guys in sport “offer” themselves a tattoo (the Ironman logo is an extremely popular example) for reaching their personal goal, which can turn into a reason the lose motivation for lack of having another. Obviously Mr X doesn’t have this attitude, more prone to act as to warrant such perspicacious James Bond titles like The world is never enough, but most of us at some point become happy or satisfied with what we’ve achieved or our mind resigns itself to not believing we can attain more and just lose the will to go further in THAT direction. But the again, I don’t recall Froome having any so who knows ;-)Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- Pretty much sums it up. Races today are often fast from the go as many know it’s their only chance of an upset. GTs are basically fast EVERY day now, whereas in the past there were stages you’d consider asking your money back (if it was a paying sport) so slow and uneventful were they. One of numerous reasons the average speeds jumped up, that doesn’t necessarily mean anyone is speeding downhill any faster, even Pidcock with a huge chainring is going to brake before a bend, it’s not the top speed that matters, it’s your racing experience that knows what the limit is for each situation and many just don’t have enough of this experience for the races they’re doing or no longer care collectively like in the past with its unwritten rules of the peleton. The prize money and cutthroat employment market is also leading to more risk/reward acceptance among the peleton as a whole.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- Comparing now yes but I think what he was trying to bring over is that he’s progessing so well that he’s on a par or faster than Wout was at his stage (which can be considered kind of true but as Wout wasn’t on the road to compare and Magnier has kind of stopped CC (to please those who got sick of XC) and MTB, it could be debated infinitely :-) Let’s just agree that for a kid just fresh from school, at age 20 he’s got no problem mixing it with the big boys when it comes to crossing the line first, he was one of the revelations of 2024 but as we know, it’s a result in the GTs that decide if the masses pick you up. If you look at the 2024 Tour of Britain (a favourite of Wout), he won 3/6 stages, came 2nd once, lead the peleton to cross in 9th once and would have been a favourite to win the last stage too if he hadn’t fallen (another favourite ou Wout ;-)), that’s pretty impressive for a 20y old and shows he not only has the speed but also the stamina to have it repetitively, I accept the comparison, he could be the next Wout, a little less versatile and probably not quite the stamina for 3 week GTs but a little faster for finishes? It’s possible.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- Interesting! Spill the tea, pleaseKerisVroom12-01-2025
- I wish him luck but he should remember what many cyclists know, you can often perform well when you don’t feel good and be disappointed on days you feel good. Also that GC one day racing statement isn’t so true, not all GC riders would beat one day specialists, one obvious example is Jonas, definitely among the best in GC but hardly likely to beat MVDP, WVA amongst many in classics. He may be biased by a current crop of GC riders who are just on a higher level in several domains.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- There might be a psychological explanation for that ;-)Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- It’s certainly more interesting to watch than most men’s races.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- magnier is “a lot faster than wout”? really? because i haven’t seen ANYONE who’s a LOT faster than wout. van der poel is a LITTLE faster than wout, sometimes. pogačar is a little faster then wout, sometimes. but magnier is just A LOT FASTER, apparently. ok, tim…OCexile12-01-2025
- There is a corelation between the amount of tattoo one has and drop of performance. Examples: Filippo Ganna and Caleb Ewan. More data is needed. Maybe Tadej should a few tattoos!KerisVroom12-01-2025