The lucky Pokémon card behind Michael Valgren’s Giro celebration

Just before crossing the line on stage 17 of the Giro d’Italia, the Dane reached behind him and pulled out a green Pokémon card, holding it up in his left hand as he took his first Grand Tour stage victory. 

The card had been with him for a while, a small gift from his children that had become part lucky charm, part answer to a question he had heard at home more than once.

“This is for my son,” Valgren said after the finish.

Speaking to Feltet after the win, he explained why the moment meant so much. His children are now old enough to understand what he does for a living. They watch the races. They notice the results. And, as children do, they ask the most direct questions.

“My sons are old enough to understand cycling,” Valgren said. “They have asked many times why I don’t win anything anymore. Luckily, I won in Tirreno, but I was still missing this Grand Tour victory.

“They made this lucky Pokémon for me. Being able to show it on TV in a Grand Tour is pretty special.”

On this day, it finally got its moment.

For Valgren, the victory closed an important gap. He had already won major one day races, including Amstel Gold Race and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and he had come close in Grand Tours before, both at the Tour de France and the Giro. But a stage win at the highest level had always escaped him.

That made the moment even heavier after the years he had lived through. Since his violent crash in 2022, Valgren’s career had been put on hold by serious injuries and a long rehabilitation. For a long time, the goal was not to win. It was to get back, rebuild and find out what kind of rider he could still be.

“This was still missing from my CV,” he said. “I think I deserve this. My career has been good, but I still needed this. Luckily it came here in Italy, where I always seem to be good. I have taken most of my wins here. I am very happy.”

Valgren has also found a different way to be a cyclist. While many of the sport’s biggest names spend long stretches away from home at altitude camps, he has chosen a rhythm that suits him better mentally.

“I think it is very much mental,” he told Feltet. “I am not a big advocate of altitude training camps. I am a strong believer in training hard and then relaxing, eating well, and getting some sleep. You can do that anywhere.”

For the 34-year-old, home is not a distraction from performance but a part of the system.

“So I don’t feel the need to sit on some mountain and be even more bored than I already am,” he said. “I would rather just be at home and make the most of it.”

That made the green Pokémon card feel like more than a small celebration prop. It was a piece of home, carried through the Giro and held up at the moment his family had been waiting for too.

Valgren was not the only Dane at this Giro whose finish line gesture came with a story behind it.

Jonas Vingegaard’s mountain wins brought a similar question. At Blockhaus, Corno alle Scale, Pila and Carì, he crossed the line and kissed his handlebars. The gesture looked unusual at first, until he explained that a photo of his family is attached to his bars: his wife Trine Marie Hansen and their children, Frida and Hugo.

“I do it for the right reason,” Vingegaard said after his win on Corno alle Scale. “There is a photo of my family on there. They give me extra motivation and energy to win.”

For both riders, the celebration opened a small window onto everything around the performance: family, motivation and the life beyond the race.