From unknown domestique to ‘T-Rex’: Tim Rex on going viral at the Giro

Rex was part of the Visma squad that helped Vingegaard win the Giro, complete his set of Grand Tour victories and add another major chapter to the team’s history. It was a dominant campaign: six stage wins, the general classification and the team classification. 

For Rex, riding his first Grand Tour, it was also the race that pushed him from relative anonymity into the spotlight.

“For me, it was a Giro I’ll never forget,” he said in an interview on the team’s website. “I already thought it was incredibly special to ride my first Grand Tour, but the way it turned out made it ten times more special. It exceeded all my expectations.”

The Belgian had not expected his Grand Tour debut to come this season. At the start of the year, the Giro was still more of an ambition than a certainty, even though the race had long held a special place for him after his U23 years.

“At the start of the year, I hadn’t thought I’d be able to make my debut this season,” he said. “I’m really happy with the opportunity I’ve been given. I’ve learnt so much from those guys and I’m sure it will benefit my career.”

Rex’s role in Italy left little room for ambiguity. He was there to ride for Vingegaard, absorb the daily workload and help Visma tighten its grip on the race.

“It’s great to be able to work for someone like Jonas,” Rex said. “You know in advance that you’re riding flat out for him, so when he finishes it off, it gives you a special feeling. As a team, we rode very strongly. We managed to put our plan into action every day.”

That work did not go unnoticed. During the race, Rex’s Instagram following jumped from just over 4,000 to nearly 13,000. Fans began recognising him and calling him “T-Rex”, a nickname that fitted both his surname and the images of his suffering face that spread across social media.

“That’s absolutely mad,” he said. “I noticed people were starting to recognise me and calling me T-Rex. My ‘pain face’ will no doubt have contributed to that. Every rider who’s suffering pulls a funny face, but mine went completely viral.”

By the twentieth stage, the joke had reached the roadside. “There was even someone wearing a T-shirt with my ‘pain face’ on it,” Rex said.

It made Rex one of the unlikely characters of the Giro: every hard kilometre in Visma’s service showed on his face, telling the story before he ever had to.

He was not the only young Visma rider to leave the Giro with a changed status.

Davide Piganzoli finished eighth overall, was honoured as the best Italian in the race and came close to winning the white jersey. The Italian had arrived as part of Vingegaard’s support group, but his climbing performances turned him into one of the home stories of the race.

“To be honest, not quite yet,” Piganzoli said when asked whether the Giro success had sunk in. “I think I still need a bit of time to let it all sink in. The past three weeks have been very intense, but also absolutely brilliant.”

Visma had started the race with big goals, but even Piganzoli admitted the final return went beyond expectation.

“We came here with the ambition of winning the Giro with Jonas and picking up a few stage wins,” he said. “The fact that we ultimately won six stages, the general classification and the team classification is more than we could have imagined beforehand. I’m incredibly proud of this team.”

Piganzoli’s own breakthrough came in the mountains. On the stage to Blockhaus, he was given the chance to work deep into the climb for Vingegaard. Afterwards, he asked Sepp Kuss for feedback on how he had ridden.

“The stage to the Blockhaus was the first stage where I could make a difference for Jonas,” Piganzoli said. “I asked Sepp if he could pull after me, so that afterwards he could tell me what I could do better next time. He said I was doing really well and that next time I’d be better off pulling after him, because he thought I was stronger at that moment.”

That moment gave Piganzoli belief that he was not merely surviving in Vingegaard’s mountain train. He was adding real value.

“Jonas was very happy with it, and so was the team,” he said. “That gave me a lot of confidence.”

His eighth place overall confirmed that confidence. Piganzoli admitted he had never expected such a result before the race, even if missing out on the white jersey initially hurt.

“I never would have dared to imagine beforehand that it would turn out like this,” he said. “I was very close to taking the white jersey home with me. I was a bit disappointed at first that I’d just missed out on it, but I had never thought beforehand that I would come so close.”