A caress, a hug and a kiss to his women, who hold him tight. A caress that lasted a day, with a sleepless night, thinking about what happened, he who has worn few jerseys (Lampre and Uae Emirates, now XdS Astana, ed.) and that one, the pink one, is the most unexpected.

"Perhaps it's even my color, since I'm surrounded by women" - says Diego Ulissi with a sly smile, the Italian who brought Italian cycling back to pink after one thousand four hundred and sixteen days -. "I experienced something unexpected, I who have pursued the tricolor jersey for years after wearing two junior world jerseys at an early age. I'm not someone who gets emotional easily, but wearing the pink jersey was something intense for me".

He brought it home at 35 years old, after chasing it throughout the Castelraimondo stage, with its Marche region walls.
"At that moment, just before climbing onto the awards podium, my entire life flashed before my eyes. I thought about my parents' and grandparents' sacrifices, the effort I've made so far. At my age, it's not simple to remain competitive, especially now, with these young guys who go incredibly fast. Who don't use tactics, who just throw themselves into it. We had prepared the stage from Giulianova to Castelraimondo, we wanted to chase something beautiful on those deadly Marche walls, but the idea was to win the stage, not certainly to wear the pink jersey".

Australian Luke Plapp's victory, stronger on the penultimate climb. Diego third, before an unexpected announcement. For 12" ahead of his teammate Fortunato and 17" ahead of Roglic, he reached a place he had never been before, despite having a career with 48 victories, 8 at the Giro, the first in 2011. The last Italian in pink? Alessandro De Marchi at 35 in 2021, lasted two days.

"I consider it a career award that I've given myself" - he explains to me - "after going through challenges as a predestined. This jersey is also for Arianna and our three girls: you can't imagine the sacrifices one must make to remain competitive. But I do them willingly because I like it, because it's my passion and my job. For Arianna it's more difficult, but she knows it's right... Just as it would have been right to let me do the Giro a year ago, alongside Pogacar: I would have deserved it".

They say it was ephemeral joy. A breath of wind through the hair, but for Diego it was oxygen.

"I felt like a young boy: happy and incredulous, these are beautiful sensations. It's a fortune to experience such moments".

from tuttoBICi June issue