It's hard to believe that Michael Valgren had never won a Grand Tour stage during his nearly two-decade career in professional cycling, but that all changed when he played the odds in a decisive breakaway and sprinted to the stage 17 victory at the Giro d'Italia in Andalo.
Sitting on the roadway just past the finish line, surrounded by journalists, photographers and television cameras, the EF Education-EasyPost rider appeared shocked by his performance as he caught his breath and took in water from his team's soigneur - he almost had no words.
He later revealed that the stage suited him and that there might be a breakaway; he just didn't imagine he would be fighting for the win against 27 other riders.
Latest Videos From
"Before the stage started, I had a good feeling. I came well out of a second rest day, and I said, I had a mark on this stage for a long time," he said.
"First thing was to go for a break. I did that, but then, with 28 guys, it's like a lottery, you know? Luckily, it also came down to legs at some point, and when you have legs, you can also make the race. I was part of that. So I also created my own luck.
"It's also about taking some chances, risking to win, and being able to also say, 'If I do this, maybe I'm gonna lose, but that's OK, because I tried everything.' At the end of the day, I was just luck of good legs."
The larger breakaway emerged early in the 202km route from Cassano d'Adda to Andalo, which was whittled down to just three, then back up to five in the closing kilometres.
The Dane initially went clear with Einer Rubio (Movistar), but their rivals, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), and Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) managed to bridge back across to the pair.
"I went away with Einer Rubio, or I tried to go alone, but I felt he was actually a bit stronger than me, so I was a bit worried on the last climb. But I think also he was a bit worried about me, so he also took me easy," Valgren detailed the final few kilometres of the stage.
"So then we got caught by the other guys. I think it was actually not so bad for me, because then I could make this move, which I made because it's kind of like what I do.
"For me, it was good that they came back and I found my moment, and I took it, you know, so I was just happy [Rubio] didn't attack me on the last climb."
Valgren has always had a positive outlook, most notably during his two-year absence from racing following a crash at the La Route d'Occitanie in 2022, where he fractured his pelvis and ruptured his ACL, MCL, and meniscus.
Asked if he felt that his career was in danger, Valgren said, "If you ask me, I would say 'no.' I think if they had asked my doctor, he would have said 'yes,' but they never told me.
"So I kept working on my rehab for more than a year, just to get back on the bike. So I think now I'm here, and I think that the rest is kind of history."
He earned some of his top results before those injuries, including two overall titles at the Tour of Denmark in 2014 and 2016, victories at Amstel Gold Race and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2018, and a bronze medal in the road race at the World Championships in 2021.
The 2026 season is proving to be one of the best of his career so far, already winning a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico. He now adds a Giro d'Italia stage victory to his palmares, too.
“This was missing from my résumé. I think I deserved this. I think I’ve always said it to someone in the media: my career has been pretty good, but I needed this Grand Tour stage win."
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Giro d'Italia. Enjoy unrivaled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.
