'More open, more tactical' Giro d'Italia without Tadej Pogačar, says Antonio Tiberi

Following his fifth place overall at last year's race, Antonio Tiberi carries the hopes of a nation at the Giro d'Italia this month.

The 23-year-old Bahrain Victorious racer has evolved into a top general classification rider in the past two seasons and will be aiming for the podium on home ground in this, his fifth career Grand Tour outing.

Tiberi, who hails from Frosinone, 90km from the Giro's finishing city of Rome, will be battling the likes of Primož Roglič, Juan Ayuso, and Mikel Landa as he aims for a possible podium spot this time around.

He heads towards this weekend's Grande Partenza in Albania off the back of a disrupted preparation, having withdrawn from the Tour of the Alps with a gastrointestinal virus. He told TuttoBiciWeb, however, that he's still carrying the same hopes into La Corsa Rosa.

"The preparation has been the same. Last year I fought for the victory of the Tour of the Alps until the end, and then I grew during the Giro," Tiberi said, noting his third place overall at the warm-up race last spring.

"This year, unfortunately, we didn't have the Tour of the Alps, but the hope is to have a Corsa Rosa along the same lines as last year."

In the build-up to his main season goal, Tiberi has spent two weeks training at altitude on Mount Teide in Tenerife, but – barring the opening stage in the Alps – he hasn't raced since March, when he finished third at Tirreno-Adriatico.

Tiberi told TuttoBiciWeb that he'll "have the answers straight away at the Giro d'Italia", adding that he can take heart from his performance at Tirreno, where he finished fourth in the opening time trial and fifth on the Frontignano summit finish, eventually finishing 36 seconds down on race winner, Giro rival Juan Ayuso.

"It gave me a lot of morale, especially because it came in a period of building in which the sensations were good but not extraordinary," Tiberi said. "I was still growing towards my peak condition, and taking a podium finish against those opponents was the right way to approach the work of the following weeks.

"I didn't get that far from [Ayuso] and, as I said, I still wasn't the best possible version of myself. In the last few weeks, I hope to have narrowed that gap between me and him a little more and, on my side, there is also the fact that as the days go by, in a Grand Tour, I usually feel better and better."

Tiberi turned pro with Trek-Segafredo in 2021 before having a breakthrough season two years later, taking top 10s at the Tour Down Under and UAE Tour before finishing 18th at the Vuelta a España.

His trajectory continued sharply upwards last season, with his Giro result accompanied by the Tour of the Alps podium, a top 10 at the Volta a Catalunya, and an overall win at the Tour de Luxembourg. 

At last year's Vuelta, he sat fourth overall and looked to be a podium contender after eight days of racing, before dropping out due to heat stroke, and he's aiming similarly high this month.

"I believe that when you have the awareness of what you are doing, if you are convinced of the goodness of your work, then there is nothing wrong with wanting to set your goals.

"If I finished fifth in the Giro last year, I think it's normal to want to try and improve, maybe even get a podium," he said, before predicting a more open race than last year's.

"Without Tadej Pogačar, I expect a Giro that is a little more open and also a little more tactical since there is no rider clearly stronger than the others on paper. Of course, there are favourites like Roglič and Ayuso, but in 21 days of racing, anything can happen and the rankings can change from one moment to the next.

"I think there is space to create something."

Tiberi predicted that the main battle for the general classification would come to life in the final week of the race, when the peloton hits the Dolomites and Alps. There will be "skirmishes" before the high mountains, however, he said.

"I think the brute force will have to come out in the third week. Before that, there will certainly be some skirmishes, maybe already in the Tirana time trial on the second day, even though it's short and technical, and then with the strade bianche of Siena and some other tricky finishes.

"But the games will certainly take place in the final days. Before that, I expect a slightly more tactical Giro."

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