Although Valentin Paret-Peintre took the stage in a brilliant win over Romain Bardet, there were plenty of fireworks in the maglia rosa group. And one of the biggest wins was from Antonio Tiberi.
You may remember the Italian for shooting a cat in 2022. In June of that year he was testing his air rifle and aimed at the cat and fired. The pet belonged to his neighbour, San Marino’s tourism and posts minister Federico Pedini Amati. He was later fined and let go by his team, Trek Segafredo (now Lidl-Trek.)
Bahrain-Victorious’ cat killer Antonio Tiberi among the Giro odds-on favourites
Anyway, moving on from the fact that this pro cyclist killed a cat in cold blood once, his racing style impressed Pogačar in the finale. The pink jersey group had been greatly reduced by a strong pace by Ineos – Grenadiers riding tempo. Tiberi then launched, which decimated the leaders–white jersey Cian Uijtdebroeks got dropped. (And then DNS on Thursday due to illness.”
“Tiberi really did good in the attack, but I knew that I needed to follow and neutralize attacks and show that I’m the strongest,” he said. “Actually, it’s not about if I can win or not. In the end we rode easier and then Bahrain had to pull, they set a harder pace on the climb. We were not in control of the climb anymore.”
The Team UAE – Emirates rider, who is known for his aggressive racing style, definitely approved of Tiberi’s move. With Uijtdebroeks abandoning the Giro, the pet murderer is now in the white jersey for best young rider.
“Yeah, he’s he only rider that so far showed some balls and that he’s really really good,” Pogi added.
Pogačar said the race was quick from the get-go.
“It was super super fast. Everybody wanted to go in the breakaway and everybody neutralized each other from going in the break. The peloton did try to let the breakaway go, and once the breakaway formed we set our own pace and we went how we wanted.”
The Slovenian also said he was feeling good and happy with the result.
“I felt the legs but it was still a good day,” was his summary. “It was controllable and a good day is behind us now and we are looking forward to the next days.”
Thursday’s lumpy Stage 12 is 193 km from Martinsicuro to Fano. You can watch the Giro on FloBikes.com
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