Five days until the Giro d'Italia 2025. Waiting for Roglic and Ayuso, Bernal and Carapaz, Ciccone and Tiberi, Van Aert and Pidcock, we live the countdown through the stories of ancient protagonists. Today, -2 to the start, it's Ennio Vanotti's turn.

A cyclist one is. And one is it inside, first and foremost. In the blood and skin, in the heart and head, in lineage and family. Grandfather a cyclist, father a cyclist, brothers cyclists, and him, Ennio Vanotti, 13 years as a professional with 12 Giro d'Italias (plus four Tour de France and one Vuelta a España). As they say in the jargon, and it's the best compliment one can receive, a true rider.

Vanotti, what was the Giro?

"A dream. The first time I didn't even expect it. It was the distant 1978, I was 22, a neo-professional, riding for Zonca, already lucky that they made me do the Tour of Romandy, I performed well and so they confirmed me for the Giro. I went to help Claudio Corti, who had been world champion among amateurs, the Swiss Sutter, who then won the mountain green jersey, there were strong riders in the team like Gavazzi, Bellini, Poggiali... In short, a domestique."

Tasks?

"If I had the gift of ubiquity, I would have helped everyone and would have been perfect. But I had to focus on just one. At that time, it was acceptable to attach yourself to a teammate's jersey. And Pierino Gavazzi's teammate on the climbs was me. I had become incredibly skilled at slipping away, recovering him and pulling him. Yet, despite this exhausting work, usually at the back of the group, in the final general classification I managed to finish twenty-seventh. I raced without ambitions other than being useful, but sometimes I saw the light of the race and the head of the group."

Once he even won.

"Giro d'Italia of the distant 1983. The prologue in Brescia was canceled due to a metalworkers' strike. The next day the individual time trial was replaced by a team time trial. I was riding for Bianchi, always as a domestique. 200 meters from the finish, the captain, the Swede Tommy Prim, passed in front, I was on his wheel. If I could have, and if I had wanted to, I would have jumped him and arrived first, and would have worn the pink jersey, instead I was content to finish second. It was the team order. And I respected it. It would have been a priest's joke. And how many times I wondered why I didn't do it. Sure, they would have sent me - the sports director was an iron sergeant, Giancarlo Ferretti, Ferón - from Mantua home by bicycle. But I would have entered history: the first pink jersey to return home in the pink jersey. That day I not only didn't take the pink jersey, but not even the cyclamen jersey for points classification because the previous day's stage wasn't disputed. Anyway, I'm happy: in the race I didn't miss a turn, me who was small and the time trial wasn't my strength, and I went up on the stage and podium, an experience and a privilege anyway rare."

But he almost had an individual victory.

"Giro d'Italia of the distant 1988, Merano-Innsbruck, I was riding for Chateau-d'Ax, in a breakaway, at the end I told my teammate Franco Vona that I would try, and if I was caught, he would try. I went and was caught, he went and won, I finished fifth. Other times I came close, other times not far. I did earn a victory at the Tour of Switzerland in the distant 1979, but for an Italian, the Giro d'Italia is another story."

His story?

"Eighth of eight, five males and three sisters, I was the family's pet. The very first bike was my brother Raimondo's, a mason, I did three races with it, the one at the parish of my town, Almenno San Salvatore, in the Bergamo area, the one at another parish, and another race in another town. The first bike was a semi-new and modified Chiorda, a piece from one and a piece from another, since my parents didn't have money to buy a new one, I managed with this one obtained from my other brother Luigi, a mason, the father of Alessandro, who was also a cyclist and also a domestique and also 13 years professional, from Petacchi to Nibali. Until 19 I worked as a plasterer, the boss had granted me two half-days off to train, so in the morning I worked, in the afternoon I did 140-150 kilometers up and down hills, valleys and mountains, a friend of mine would pick me up and help me clean the tools so we'd gain a nice quarter hour."

Will he be at the Giro d'Italia?

"By rule, yes, this time on the Mortirolo, the point closest to home. I can't resist the Giro's call. Alone or with friends, on foot or by bike, by car or by bus. And every time, seeing who suffers on the bike, I get goosebumps. It's not nostalgia: in my years I gave it my all and everything, and the friendship of captains and colleagues completely repays me."

He organized the team time trial in Casazza.

"For 17 years. The last time two years ago, big time, 126 ex-professionals, 700 participants in total, some going all out with lenticular wheels to arrive first, others - like Bruno Zanoni, black jersey in the Giro d'Italia of the distant 1979, and all his teammates in black jersey - stopping at an Endine bar, sitting at a table and ordering cappuccino and brioche to arrive last."

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