The explosion of joy from the masseurs, the embrace with Fancellu, the tears from Maini, the phone call with team manager Bevilacqua, the satisfaction of Martinelli but above all so much, so much disbelief. Immediately after the finish line of the sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey that he won, Christian Bagatin was overwhelmed by a wave of joy and emotions that were difficult to describe and with him, of course, his team as well, MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, which this year allowed him to officially become a professional.

Never, and he revealed this himself after the finish line, would the 2002-born rider from Cittiglio have imagined obtaining a result like this in a race like the Turkish one and in a stage with a finale like today's, which, at least at the start, should have seen him in service of Alessandro Fancellu. Instead, making a mockery of the morning's tactics, the race in its unpredictable unfolding wanted the face of the stage to take on a completely different shape for the rider from Varese and lead him to achieve a true masterpiece by repelling, after entering the day's breakaway and having distanced the other companions of adventure on the concluding climb, the return of the classification favorites.

"The opposite of what we had imagined happened" Bagatin told our microphones after the awards ceremony. "I found myself in the breakaway because in the first tricky part of the race there was a crosswind, the Alpecin riders kept attacking to get away and anticipate the climb and I, when I saw about ten riders take off, got on their wheel. At that point I thought I could take the climb ahead and act as a support point for Fancellu and so I approached it at my own pace, but I was almost immediately alone and then I continued with the pace I had taken. With less than 5 km to the finish I still didn't believe it was possible also because I knew the hard section started right after. I started to hope I could make it when in the last 1000 meters they told me I had 2 minutes which then became one and a half. At that point I accelerated again and at that pace I was sure they couldn't catch me, so much so that, in the end, I won by more than a minute" recounted in great detail the twenty-three-year-old Lombard who, throughout his effort, received fundamental support from the team car.

"Maini today was the team car behind me and pushed me for the entire climb, but both of them told me, approaching first one and then the other, to believe in it and that today could be my day. Inside me, however, I thought 'it's 21 kilometers of climbing, how can this be my day?'. And instead they were right. Crazy. I can't believe it. Martinelli had told me that a day like this could come when I least expected it and it came. I didn't imagine it could happen on top of the Turkish Stelvio, but it happened".

The surprise, as Bagatin himself emphasized, was even greater because the exploit materialized on terrain where he didn't yet know he could perform in the way he did.

"I managed the finale really well and I was truly amazed at myself... we can say that today I discovered a limit of mine because I had never made such an effort. Even Maini on the radio was telling me 'today you'll discover yourself', because I had never attempted something like this and I had never really even had the opportunity to do it... maybe today was the day of my life and I managed it".

Bagatin then, a rider attentive to data and values, went into more detail about his performance on the concluding climb, revealing the wattages he produced during the ascent to the 1902-meter finish line.

"I think I did the entire climb at about 390 watts but I looked at the data mainly to not overdo it in the first part because I felt really good. Then actually I have a good ability to maintain a steady pace and indeed when I checked them I was always between 380 and 400 watts... I discovered a new limit and it's certainly a good thing. Could certain efforts help unlock the engine and the body? I think so, because yesterday, for example, I set my personal record for 20 minutes (and I still had room to spare) but I had never done 20 minutes all-out in my life" admitted the winner of the Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo 2023 who, in this Tour of Turkey is discovering, beyond abilities he didn't think he had, also which roles he feels most suited to.

"It may seem strange but in these days I'm refining my skills as a man for sprints, the one who stays close to the sprinter on the climb, gets dropped with him, sets the pace, helps him get back, and then, at this point, also those of a climber. I had never done such a long climb... maybe the Stelvio but certainly not at this pace".

It is precisely by spending himself mainly in the role of valuable support for his sprinters that Bagatin has lived his first months as a professional in this 2026, a season that, up to this point, the young Lombard rider has framed as absolutely positive.

"The season so far has been positive for me. I hadn't collected results, but because I've always moved in support of my teammates, I've always been fundamental and I've played what is essentially my role here. Today I stepped a bit outside the schemes, but my role remains that of a team man in support of the team and the sprinter which is something I like and that, probably, I'm also good at given that both my teammates and everyone in the team are happy about it" declared the rider of MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort which immediately immersed itself this season in the hunt for those points that could make it eligible for invitations to the major stage races of 2027.

"Points, whether you like it or not, we think about them, but we go to races to do our best. We're not a team that launches with three men in the sprint to try to get more points: we have our man, we always aim for the maximum result but obviously it's difficult especially when we find ourselves competing with World Tour teams".

World Tour teams that Bagatin and the Hungarian squad (with which the product of Carnovali-Rime has a contract until 2027) will find themselves facing again next year with a core of riders that will likely be even more compact than this year.

"I'm getting along very well at MBH. The group is truly cohesive and very united and we've demonstrated this here at Turkey with the many results we've collected but also, for example, helping each other as I did with Budzinski yesterday to help him get back or with Persico on the second day" revealed the third-place finisher at the  GP Industria e Commercio Artigianato Carnarghese 2025 who, while waiting to see if one day he will manage to achieve his dream ("Win a stage at the Giro d'Italia"), we should see him soon engaged on home soil.

"I still need to figure out what my program will be. Theoretically I should do some .2 races in Italy but everything was tied to how I would go in Turkey. The form is certainly really good" explained a Bagatin who, before thinking about the next appointments, will not fail to narrate the whirlwind of emotions today in the episode of the podcast "Fuori Dal Gruppo" that he usually hosts together with Filippo Guarnieri and Aronne Antonetti.

"Obviously we'll talk about this, when do I get the chance to win on top of such a long climb again? I hope to win again, doing it on an ascent like this is rather difficult".

Who knows, however, if that discovery of himself that today translated into an unexpected result, sooner or later, won't lead Bagatin to strike again at similar altitudes and gradients.