'Bad luck is part of this sport' - Tiberi targets Vuelta after Giro setback

It can all change in an instant in this game. Antonio Tiberi spent the first two weeks of the Giro d’Italia firmly in the hunt for a podium finish, only for his race to turn on a late crash on the road to Nova Gorica on stage 14. 

From there, his Giro became an ordeal. Although Tiberi avoided fractures in the incident, the after-effects lingered, and he dropped slowly down the standings with each mountain pass, falling to 17th overall in Rome. 

After fifth place a year ago, Tiberi had set out from Albania with designs on the top three. His disappointment at how things played out is tempered only in part by satisfaction at his condition before the crash.

“I was very unlucky at the Giro,” Tiberi told Domestique this week on the Tour de Pologne. “Up until the crash, I was going really well. I was in the position that we had set as our objective, I was lying third overall, so it was all going really well. But bad luck is just part of this sport, unfortunately. 

“When I got to Rome, there was a bit of regret alright, because without the crash, I think I could have done better. The blow itself and the pain from the crash were a real disadvantage. I felt quite bad after it, but, well, that’s just how this sport works. Now I’ll just look to make up for it in the next races.”

Tiberi returned to competition for the first time since the Giro at the San Sebastián Klasikoa last weekend before travelling onwards to the Tour de Pologne. The Italian was prominent on the first GC shake-up at Karpacz on stage 2, and he lies fourth overall as the race enters its decisive final days.

“I was missing a bit of race rhythm, but the sensations were still good in San Sebastián, I was maybe just missing a bit in the last kilometres,” Tiberi said. “But here in Poland, I’ve come through the first few stages ok and that’s helped me physically too.”

Tiberi is in Poland to prepare for the Vuelta a España, where he will again line up with his roommate and mentor Damiano Caruso for Bahrain Victorious. At the Giro, Caruso stepped up to the plate after his teammate’s crash, and he claimed fifth overall, but the Sicilian is adamant that Tiberi is the outright leader in Spain.

“My goal is to try to win a stage and give my support to Antonio, who will be competing in the general classification,” Caruso told BiciPro recently, adding that the youngster had already absorbed most of the lessons he could impart. “I can only assist him and facilitate his work. But we’re reaching the point where, once I have passed on my knowledge, I will no longer be able to help him.”

Tiberi, for his part, has already shown that he knows how to manage a tilt at both the Giro and Vuelta in the same year. Twelve months ago, he arrived in sparkling form at the start of the Vuelta, lying fourth overall approaching the end of a high-octane week.

His race unravelled, however, on the broiling stage 9 to Granada, where he was forced to abandon with heatstroke. The late-season form remained intact, however, and he returned to action in time to win the Tour de Luxembourg. 

“I had the same approach last year, in that I had a break after the Giro and then I came back to racing in August,” Tiberi said. “Last year, I did Burgos, this year we opted for Poland instead, but the approach is very similar to last year because that worked out well. But obviously, we’ll just hope that it doesn’t turn out to be quite as hot at the Vuelta…”

The race will begin on Italian roads on August 23, and Tiberi will hope the Turin start is a good omen, given that the 2024 Giro also set out from the shadow of the Mole Antonelliana. After Poland, his final fine-tuning for the Vuelta will come in a training camp at Sestriere. “I don’t have a precise target in mind,” he said. “I’ll simply try to aim for the highest result possible.”