INTERVIEW | Possible presence of Vingegaard or Pogacar at Giro d'Italia does not intimidate Antonio Tiberi - "The road will speak"

CyclingUpToDate was at the Bahrain - Victorious camp this week and talked with Italy's most promising Grand Tour rider of the current generation. A nation with dozens of victories in the three-week races, it now finds itself on the back foot due to historic climbers such as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. But Antonio Tiberi will not change his plans accordingly to the competition in 2025.

Earlier this month, the 23-year old hinted that he would be racing the Giro d'Italia next spring and with high ambitions. The 23-year old has still not made the final decision, but between lines this is expected:

"We have to see the parcours, how will be the parcours and yeah then after we know the parcours if it's good for me or not, we decide with the team if the main goal of 2025 if will be the Giro or another race," he told us.

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Tiberi was fifth this year, winning the youth classification as a bonus, confirming his potential as a Grand Tour rider. He could have been heading the same direction at the Vuelta a España but suffered from heat stroke during the hot first week and was forced to abandon. In addition to this he was also eighth at the Volta a Catalunya, third at the Tour of the Alps and won the overall classification at the Tour de Luxembourg.

He starts the 2025 season at the Volta ao Algarve, likely as a big favourite for the GC as the route - which was revealed today - will have a summit finish at the Alto de Fóia, and a time-trial which finishes atop the Alto do Malhão, a suiting route to his abilities.

Time-trialing is a strong weapon for the Italian and he admits that within his team, there are comments that this upcoming year's route suits him quite well. "The Tour attracts me, at the moment more the GC because yeah I like to do GC," he responded when asked if he could combine Giro and stage hunting at the Tour. "My teammate Caruso said to me that he thinks the Tour is super good for me because the climbs are not super hard, it's really good for me and also there is a long time-trial so it's a race for sure I'd like to do in these years".

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But the Giro is certainly his main plan. At the moment we do not know who will be there, but on paper all the big GC riders are still open to be at the Corsa Rosa, much due to the delay in the route presentation. But whoever will be there will not change his plans. "I just do a Grand Tour I go there with 100% of my shape and try to do everything perfect for this objective and yeah. You are there and then for sure you have the other contenders, you just have to try to follow the best wheel, to drop them, you have to stay in the game, do the maximum you can do and the road will speak".

He is also focused on improving his explosivity, a weak spot in his skillset which could see him suffer with the explosive racing that more and more we see in the modern peloton. "We have to improve a bit the change of the tempo in the climbs because yeah when the tempo is always the same hard pace I like, they are good. But when there are a some attacks or change of tempo I suffer a bit, I have to improve a bit on this".

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Italy has won 85 Grand Tours in the sport's history, the most out of any nation, but hasn't had that pleasure since the 2016 Giro d'Italia with Vincenzo Nibali. It would be expected that the pressure would be sky high for the country's stage-racers, but Tiberi thinks otherwise: "No sincerely I don't feel, because I think all about what I have to do and trying to do in the best mode. Then yeah if the rest comes it's super".

"Otherwise there are a lot of really strong contenders these years so it's not easy to win a Grand Tour with people like Tadej or Vingegaard. We try to do our best but I'm still young, I hope I have a lot of years ahead of me, I try to improve and always do better and better".

Lastly, the Italian Grand Tour specialist shared which food he enjoys the most outside of his home country: "I think Spain, because it's a lot similar to Italy, a lot of things that I really like like the paella and also the meat here in Spain is super super nice. The meat remembers me a lot of the meat in Florence".

Original: Rúben Silva

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