'The metrics are just better' – Dark horse Michael Storer stays 'realistic' despite heading into Giro d'Italia in career-best shape

Michael Storer (Tudor) may be starting the Giro d'Italia as one of the dark horse contenders and in the form of his career, but he's staying 'realistic' as he tries to challenge the likes of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the hunt for the maglia rosa.

Having won the Tour of the Alps in April in dominant fashion, Storer showed everyone lining up for the 108th Giro that he would not be a name to ignore, though that race hasn't tended to be the best indicator for performance in the Italian Grand Tour.

Vincenzo Nibali did the Alps-Giro double in 2013, but since then, several winners of the former have faded, had bad luck or fallen foul of peaking too early at the corsa rosa. Simon Yates is the last Alps champion to finish on the podium of the Giro in 2021, and Storer will be hoping he can reach new heights and follow suit.

However, relaxed as ever, Storer didn't put much pressure on himself as he spoke in Albania on Thursday ahead of the Grande Partenza from Durrës, instead saying he was just looking to get the maximum out of himself, without setting a concrete aim.

"Of course, I'm dreaming of the pink jersey, but let's be realistic, it's extremely hard to win this race," said Storer. 

"I'll be really happy as long as I do the best race I can, whether than puts me in the top 10, or the pink jersey, or I'm struggling to get through. If I do the best race I can, then I'll be satisfied with that. But of course, I want to bring home some results too."

He remained modest when asked how it felt being mentioned alongside guys like Roglič and Ayuso, for the first time as a likely contender for a Grand Tour GC.

"I just take it as confidence that people think I can do it, because it just makes me feel like I've come a long way. Now I'm getting mentioned, that's quite nice," said the Australian. 

"Hopefully, I can also deliver on that, but if I don't, I'm used to getting beaten, so it's not a big problem for me," he laughed.

Storer admitted that this was the best he'd felt heading into a Grand Tour, "but I've been there close to it before in the Vuelta 2021, and I also felt quite good in the Giro last year." 

He put this down to finding "a bit more fitness than last year", but didn't expand much when asked to explain just how he'd found that extra level.

"No, it's also just that my numbers have improved, like the metrics are just better coming into this year. [I've had] a better preparation, and you learn from what you've done in previous years and how to do it better."

Teammate and veteran US racer Larry Warbasse had been impressed and perhaps surprised by the 28-year-old as he spoke about his performance in the Tour of the Alps, and being asked this brought out a more confident side of the typically quiet Storer.

"With [Warbasse] saying I have really good power numbers, it's my first year as a teammate with him, and I've always been doing good power numbers; he just didn't know me before joining the team," Storer said. "But I've found a little bit extra this year with that good preparation."

Outside of pure power, Storer has also been working on descending more confidently, his time trialling, and just generally becoming a more complete GC rider, with his double stage win performance at the Vuelta four years ago proving that he's long had the climbing ability.

With the nature of the 2025 Giro d'Italia route seeing all of the hardest mountain days backloaded as the race heads north, Storer will have the luxury of knowing what he has to do to land a strong result once both time trials are wrapped up by race day 10 in Pisa.

He'll have to survive both the races against the clock on stage 2 in Tirana and the aforementioned tenth stage in Tuscany, and will be hoping for much more than the 45th and 38th place finishes he managed at last year's Giro, en route to claiming 10th overall.

"I've worked a lot more on the TT than last year, because it's a clear weakness, I guess you could call it – it's a discipline where I was losing too much time," admitted Storer. 

"At the same time, it's also an opportunity, because working on it, there's a lot more gains to be made, so hopefully it's up this year.

"I just have to work on everything, especially weaknesses, because in a Grand Tour, they can make you come undone. It's also been a pretty steady progression as well. 

"I've been doing GC at a lot of one-week stage races since joining Tudor, and they've been trying to help me improve on what I need so that I can do three weeks as well as possible. I did it last year, so I can't see why I can't do it this year."

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