"Not in the way I was imagining" - Antonio Tiberi new Best Young Rider at Giro d'Italia after Cian Uijtdebroeks abandon

After the abandon of Cian Uijtdebroeks through illness, Bahrain - Victorious' Antonio Tiberi is the new Maglia Bianca at the 2024 Giro d'Italia, rising to 5th overall as the Best Young Rider.

"Now I'm in the White Jersey but yeah, not in the way I was imagining," admitted the Italian talent in his post-stage 11 interview. "I also feel sad for Cian but now I'm in the White Jersey and I'm fighting for GC. I am really proud and happy."

As mentioned, the 22-year-old now sits 5th overall at the Giro, 4:27 down on the Maglia Rosa wearing Tadej Pogacar but more notably, just 1:31 off third placed Geraint Thomas and a spot on the final podium in Rome. Stage 11 though, was mostly about keeping safe and supporting Bahrain - Victorious sprinter, Phil Bauhaus in his attempts for a stage win.

"We did top-10 today with Phil so I'm really happy for him. We did a nice job. For me, it wasn't so easy because I'm not so fast, I prefer the mountains," Tiberi laughs. "The next few days I think will be really, really hard. Tomorrow we have a hard stage with a lot of kicks, then it's full focus for the time-trial and I think the stage to Livigno will be really hard."