Mathias Vacek continues to amaze in this Giro d'Italia and in his hometown of Beroun in the Czech Republic, everyone is cheering for him. Vacek is 22 years old and perhaps dreamed of the pink jersey, but he feels like a superhero nonetheless, because he has become the second Czech cyclist in history to wear the prestigious white jersey of a grand tour, reserved for the best under-25 cyclist.

His only predecessor was Roman Kreuziger, but the twenty-two-year-old seems to be a true thoroughbred, having already worn the white jersey in two different grand tours, as he was the best young rider at the Vuelta last year after the opening time trial.

Mathias Vacek stepped onto the podium to wear the white jersey after the second stage, but had already shown his skills in the first.

"I'm happy. It's not every day you get to wear the leader's jersey for young riders in a grand tour. This is only my second grand tour and I can wear white again, so it's something special. It's incredible because we have the pink jersey and the cyclamen points jersey with Mads, and I have the white one".

Born and raised in Beroun, Bohemia, Vacek proved to be selfless and instead of thinking about his own ambitions, in the fifth stage he continued to work for Pedersen, managing to bring him back and launch him towards the stage victory. "I felt good and had nice legs - said the Czech who initially didn't think he could compete for the stage win - Mads told me to go. I thought I should increase the pace to reduce the gap to the group. But at the finish he told me I should try to attack. The finale was more challenging than expected, but I'm very happy with the result".

Mads Pedersen has repeatedly said he is happy with his young teammate's performances and that we will soon see him winning important races. Raised in the Team Fratelli Giorgi, where he learned to speak Italian well, the Czech turned professional in 2021 coming directly from juniors and skipping the amateur category to join Gazprom. In 2022, he won the sixth stage of the UAE Tour before the Russian team was stopped following the invasion of Ukraine. In August, he became a stagiaire at Trek Segafredo and then signed a contract with the American team where he continued his growth path.

In 2023 he became national road race champion, in 2024 he won the time trial title; this season, he won the team time trial at the Valenciana and had also obtained excellent results at last year's Vuelta, with a second place in the time trial.

Vacek is ambitious and when the cyclamen jersey is safely on Pedersen's shoulders, he will feel free to go and conquer a stage win. "We're all in for Mads, because with the form he's shown, he can do truly great things. As for me, I know the team has confidence and I'll have my chance at the right moment".