The Grande Partenza for the Vuelta a España this August in Turin has created a wave of expectation about what the host nation for the opening stage can achieve in the final Grand Tour of 2025, with up-and-coming Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) finding himself at centre of much of the speculation regarding potential challenges by Italy.
Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) will be a natural favourite for the time trial stage in Valladolid on stage 17, and will be in the centre of the limelight when the race leaves from his home region of Piemonte on August 23.
However, Tiberi's options on the GC front will also spark a great deal of interest, given his promising results in the Giro d'Italia in 2024, when he carried the host nation's hopes all the way to a fifth place overall in Rome. This year in the same race, he was on track for another top result until he was floored by a crash at the end of the second week.
On the record, Tiberi is remaining non-committal about his chances in the Vuelta, given last year he was forced to abandon when lying fourth overall with heatstroke. However, as the 24-year-old admitted after taking second in the Tour de Pologne and rounding out his last day of racing with fourth in the final time trial, there's certainly room for optimism about what he can achieve on the roads of Piemonte and Spain in a little under two weeks' time.
"It's a very important moment for me, Pologne is a bit like the Tour of the Alps last year," Tiberi told reporters after moving from third to second overall in Pologne on the final day. He finished third at the 2024 Tour of the Alps before racing the Giro d'Italia.
"The Alps was a great chance to test my legs for the Giro, here it's been the same kind of thing, so I hope to improve even more between now and the start of the race.
“For sure, it boosts my morale ahead of La Vuelta and makes me feel more secure about my condition."
Tiberi said he did not try to push himself too hard and go into the red too often, given what's coming in Spain. But even without making absolute, all-out efforts, the results in Pologne were good. Even in the final time trial, held over a distance that was perhaps a little short for his liking, Tiberi was able to find a solid rhythm and stay on track all the way through.
"I tried to hold my best pace on the first climb, and then I felt my legs were good and I could keep up a good rhythm all the way to the end," he said.
"I tend to prefer longer efforts, but sometimes in the short ones, and if I mentalize myself well, I can manage to do something good. I'm pleased to be able to do what I could."
For the longer ascents in the Vuelta, too, Tiberi will be able to count on the invaluable support of the experienced Grand Tour racer and teammate Damiano Caruso, who showed his own rising form with a solo victory in the Vuelta a Burgos and a few years go took an impressive win in the Vuelta at the Alto de Velefique summit finish.
But Tiberi will also be pleased with how he performed on Pologne's punchy stages through the hills of the country's deep south, placing fourth in the crucial uphill finish in Karpacz and limiting the gaps on stage winner Victor Langellotti (Ineos Grenadiers) and the late breakaway, and eventual GC winner, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on the grinding ascent to Bukovina Tatranska on Saturday.
"I never held back when it came to making an effort, and whenever I had the legs, I tried to attack," he pointed out. "All in all, I think Pologne will serve me well ahead of the Vuelta."
