It's over 1,000 kilometres as the crow flies from the 2025 Tour de Pologne's final climb to Bukowina Tatranzska to the Vuelta a España's first summit finish at Limone Piemonte - but after outperforming far better known racers in the Polish ascent two weeks ago, Monaco's Victor Langellotti is poised and ready to do the same in the much bigger arena of the Vuelta.
In Poland, Langellotti, 30, was anything but a familiar face to many fans when he outgunned no less a rider than Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) to take both the stage and the lead at Bukowina. The rider from Monaco had only signed for Ineos in 2025 - before that he raced with the comparatively low-profile Spanish ProTeam Burgos-BH for his entire career.
While not able to hang on for the overall victory in the final time trial, his victory in Poland was enough to shift Langellotti from the Ineos long list for the Vuelta selection to a definitive selection.
Langellotti was selected for his first Grand Tour since the Vuelta with Burgos BH in 2022 and is putting his hat in the ring for the race's first summit finish, the seven-kilometre category 2 Limone Piemonte on Sunday.
"I know it a little bit, it's not so far from Monaco, so sometimes back in the winter I'd go there to do some skiing," Langellotti told reporters in the Vuelta's stage 1 mixed zone.
"It's a long drag up towards, but then the last three kms are kicking harder. So the key will be to be in a very good position and then wait for the moment to attack or launch my sprint."
One of just two pros from Monaco in the current peloton, Langellotti has been breaking through one glass ceiling after another in the last seven months of 2025. Joining Ineos Grenadiers saw him become the tiny country's first WorldTour pro, a third place in Tour de Pologne was Monaco's first WorldTour podium finish, and that was followed up by his first outright win and lead.
"I'm quite happy about the shape, it is pretty good and I could show it in Poland," he said.
"That means all the preparation has been good, plus we've done a good job at the training camp in Andorra before the Vuelta, so obviously I come here with some expectations," Langellotti said.
His determination to seize every chance he could get has already been clear this summer, but fighting for a victory in Limone Piemonte - and with it the lead after he finished safely in behind winner Jasper Philipsen in today's bunch sprint - would be another big step up he's ready to take, he says.
"I would love to win a stage,that would be the main goal, and obviously Limone Piemonte is a pretty good stage finale for me, it can suit me pretty well," he said, "so tomorrow [Sunday] we'll give it a shot."
Langellotti's previous participation in the Vuelta 2022 ended when he abandoned after a crash on a descent, but before that, he wore the mountains jersey - Monaco's first classification lead in a Grand Tour - for several days.
"It was a dream to be part of a Grand Tour, but then wearing the mountain jersey was amazing," Langellotti says, agreeing that the memory should help inspire him in this year's race.
But both he and Monaco have something more to look forward to in the future Vueltas as well, with next year's Gran Depart for the Spanish Grand Tour set to take place in his country.
"It’s an honour to host a Grand Tour start, but first of all here we are in Turin, first of all it's the Vuelta 2025 and then we'll see," he concluded. "But obviously, I'm very pleased that will be happening, too!"
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