Tirreno-Adriatico podium "a great sign ahead of the Giro" for impressive Antonio Tiberi

There is a generally held feeling that modern Italian cycling is still struggling to fill the void left by Vincenzo Nibali's retirement. In the form of 23-year-old Antonio Tiberi though, the nation does perhaps have a true Grand Tour podium contender once more.

On his Giro d'Italia debut in 2024, Tiberi finished 5th overall. Ahead of the 2025 edition, the Bahrain - Victorious man is again showing good form too, ending Tirreno-Adriatico on the final podium alongside Juan Ayuso and Filippo Ganna. “I’m super happy. This Tirreno-Adriatico went much better than last year, as has this first part of the season in general," assesses Tiberi in post-race quotes in a press release on the Bahrain - Victorious team's official website. "My legs are improving day by day, especially in the past few stages, which is a great sign ahead of the Giro."

"I came into today expecting a battle for second place in the GC and knew Ganna could beat me in the bonus sprint. Losing by just one second isn’t a big deal. I’m happy with the result and the incredible work of the team throughout the week," Tiberi continues, noting how he actually dropped from 2nd to 3rd overall on the final stage. "I was supported in the best possible way, and the guys were ready to react to every move. Everything is perfect as I build up towards the Giro.”

As mentioned, having already proven himself over three weeks at the last edition of the Giro d'Italia, Tiberi returns to his home Grand Tour this year a genuine challenger for the podium. With that in mind, Bahrain - Victorious' sports director Gorazd Štangelj has been left delighted by his rider's performance during Tirreno-Adriatico.

“From the beginning, as we set out to do, we wanted to be ahead of the other General classification competitors in the time trial. This certainly pays off. But it is much easier when you have an advantage and defend it," explains the DS. "The race was very difficult every day, the weather and the route, but in the end, it was still decided by seconds, so it was a very close race for the podium, 5 seconds between the second and fourth competitors. We suffered until the last day. I have to say that the team worked great. We had only goal, and that was the podium at the end of the race and everyone worked just for that all week."

"Even now, when we look at the guys, they are all very satisfied, but still very tired, which shows how difficult the race was. In the end, when you still, even today, see them with great focus, to defend that second place, which in the end was mission impossible, but they did a great job and defended it perfectly. However, it is difficult to race against competitors like Milan or Ganna, so I told them in advance that even if we lose 2nd place, we can be proud of 3rd because that is not a tragedy," Štangelj concludes. "But yes, we achieved the goal we set for ourselves.”