With the third place achieved on Sunday at the Coppa Agostoni, Simone Velasco's count of third-place finishes this season has risen to 5. The data, although the highest recorded in a single season by the Bologna rider, cannot help but leave a bit of bitterness because, clearly, it means that on more than one occasion the XDS-Astana rider has caressed or sniffed victory up close without ever managing to grasp it.

Velasco himself focused on this situation and this regret after the first race of the Trittico Lombardo, an occasion that also proved useful to understand in more detail his expectations for the immediate future and how his season can be interpreted in relation to the team's pursued objectives.

"I know winning is never easy, but this is one of the best years of my career. I will still have a few chances before the end of the season to try to get that victory that hasn't arrived yet, and if my legs are like those I showed at the Agostoni, I certainly won't hold back. I won't hide that sometimes I would need a bit more luck because there's always someone who comes in front of me, but I can still be happy with my competitiveness," said the 2023 Italian champion before delving deeper into the moment of his career.

"I'm happy because, season after season, I'm still improving my performance level, and at not yet 30 years old, I don't feel finished at all. I think I can still have my say in this world and, considering I'm in one of the career phases where I can perform best, I can look at what awaits me with confidence," Velasco continued.

"Having a season like this would certainly be something amazing because this year, with very few exceptions, I've always been ready. Both at the Tour de France, for example, and at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, I managed to be competitive, and we're talking about two of the toughest races in the calendar. At Milan-Sanremo, unfortunately, I got caught in the final crash and had to waste a lot of energy to get back to the front and recover the minute of disadvantage I had accumulated, but I believe that, looking at pure performance, that was one of my best races ever. I didn't manage to win, but I showed that even on days when I'm not at 100% condition, I can still be competitive."

With this awareness, Simone hopes to continue the 2025 season following the path traced this year, also thanks to a sense of freshness that today, in an increasingly demanding and exhausting sport since turning professional, not everyone can boast at his age.

"I think I can still improve because, coming from the old school, I wasn't squeezed out. I transitioned into a still 'normal' cycling where there was much less stress, whereas now, for instance, I believe the training I did as an amateur isn't even done by juniors anymore. Today, we go faster and faster, and this is demonstrated by the fact that last Saturday I had my best Giro dell'Emilia ever, but despite continuing to improve watts and times on climbs year after year, I finished twenty-fourth. There's nothing to do, simply everyone goes faster and gives their all, including young riders who, compared to when we turned professional, train differently and certainly have more resources. For them, in the short term, this is definitely good because they can grow with other evaluation methods in terms of preparation, but in the long run, only time will tell how long they can sustain this level."

These young riders, to close an apparently insurmountable gap in the three-year UCI ranking and confirm their place in the World Tour, have been heavily relied upon this year by Simone's team, XDS-Astana, which was good at closing ranks and finding within its diverse collective the strength, will, and especially the resources to change a destiny that seemed already written.

"At the end of last season, I don't think anyone believed we could succeed in this feat. At the first seasonal retreat, we had a meeting among ourselves, without sports directors or coaches, and we told each other to try to achieve this goal by giving our all. I think we worked very well, maintaining a high competitive level, and in the end, we succeeded in something that seemed impossible. We know, however, that the next years won't be easy either, and we'll need to continue on this path," Velasco explained, making it clear that the target for 2026 won't vary much, although there will undoubtedly be more tranquility to pursue more complete results.

"This has been a year conditioned by the hunt for points to remain in the World Tour, and until there was certainty of being among the top 18 in the 2023-2025 ranking, the team preferred to race a bit more focused on that objective rather than on the final result of the individual rider. Subsequently, by racing differently, victories still came, and the year became one of the most profitable for the team," clarified the '95 class rider, not among the supporters of a system that in some instances affects race calendar and race dynamics a bit too much.

"Certainly, the points issue sometimes distorts races a bit, but on the other hand, these are the rules and the system we must adhere to. Some like it, others (and I'm one of them) don't, but regardless, the only things we can do are try to adapt and do our best in this context. We're not the only ones thinking this way because most teams today race like this, including top teams. Clearly, when you have 15 athletes in your ranks who could be captains in other top teams in the world, everything becomes easier, and victories can only be natural consequences," concluded the Emilian rider, ready to face the end of the season always hungry and eager to turn podiums and third places into something more prestigious.