"He was very angry... He felt like the others had done him dirty" - Michael Storer's secret motivation ahead of incredible Tour of the Alps turnaround

Michael Storer sent out a warning ahead of the 2025 Giro d'Italia on Friday, pulling off an incredible turnaround at the Tour of the Alps and reclaiming the race lead from Thymen Arensman on the final stage with an epic long-range raid. As it turned out, this performance was fuelled by a secret motivation.

"Michael was really motivated because he was very angry after yesterday’s stage. He felt like the others had done him dirty," explained Storer's Tudor Pro Cycling Team teammate Florian Stork in conversation with IDLProCycling.com afterwards, referring to a stage 4 which saw the aforementioned Arensman explode the GC with a long-range raid of his own. "Nobody wanted to pull, so he was determined to take the lead back today. I’m super proud of him."

And so, the Tudor Pro Cycling Team put their heads together and formulated a plan to regain control of the GC and get back all Storer's rivals who they perceived to have wronged him. "We had a few scenarios ready, one with someone in the breakaway and one without anyone up front. Lucas Eriksson eventually made it into the break, so we chose the second-to-last climb as the place to launch Michael, after which Lucas could wait," reveals Stork. "It was incredible how fast we were going."

"I did an all-out effort without really looking at my power meter," continued the German. "I gave everything I had for as long as I could, and when I pulled off, I was surprised that only Michael and Arensman were still there."

Once Stork's massive effort was completed, Storer finally made his own move and it proved race-winning. "It feels extra good when you’ve been talking about a plan like this on the bus, and then you execute it perfectly," Stork concludes. "That doesn’t happen often, and it’s really, really cool."