If in the last month of races the XDS Astana has managed to win repeatedly (Scaroni's victory at San Valentino Brentonico and, before that, the wins by Poels, Lopez, and Gonov in Turkey) and partial achievements (the many mountain classifications won by Fortunato at the Giro d'Italia), repeatedly putting itself in the spotlight and thus fueling its pursuit of confirmation in the World Tour, it also owes this to the valuable work done by Fausto Masnada.

The Bergamo native, who joined the Kazakh team this year after four and a half seasons with Soudal Quick-Step, has played a key role at various latitudes for the successes obtained by his teammates, who, when asked for their opinion, have not hesitated to openly emphasize the value of his contribution.

After two quite complicated seasons spent fighting more with physical problems than with opponents on the road, seeing the native of Bergamo once again excellently spending himself at the head of the group and somehow being a factor in the race is a very encouraging sign not only for him and the team that has bet on his comeback but also, more generally, for all cycling enthusiasts who still have a vivid memory of his second place at the Lombardia 2021 behind Tadej Pogacar.

The efforts made in this Giro Rosa by the '93 class suggest that the path taken to return to approaching the numbers, results, and his version from four years ago may be the right one. It is precisely to confirm this impression that we approached the person concerned during one of the last stages of Giro 108, his first grand tour in three years.

First Grand Tour since the Vuelta 2022 and, in general, after two very complicated years: what responses are you getting?

"I'm working very hard because, despite all the withdrawals, a Grand Tour is not something you can train for, and three years without doing one is a lot. However, I'm happy with how I'm going and the fact that I started from Albania with the goal of reaching Rome and I'm close to achieving it: I'm giving my soul on the road, but these efforts serve to improve and try to return to other levels."

Among these efforts are those you've made in recent weeks for your teammates, and in this regard, I wanted to ask you, since among the reasons that led you to sign with XDS Astana, you also mentioned the Italian group within it, how much is this environment and these teammates influencing what you and you are doing?

"We are a united group where everyone works together, and the results are showing. Vinokourov has truly managed to create a great team. Personally, I'm happy to be part of this team, and we hope to continue like this until the end of the season."

The mission you set seemed quite arduous, yet you are achieving something incredible: where, in your opinion, lies the secret of this climb in the UCI ranking and this excellent season?

"The secret is that we race as a team, we are calm before and after the race, and we always try to race with determination and get the maximum."

Based on what you've shown so far, when do you think we'll see a Masnada version like the one that got 2nd place at Lombardia 2021?

"I hope before the Lombardia."