After initially taking stock of the major stage races by participating in the last two editions of the Vuelta España (the last one unfortunately concluded with a premature withdrawal), for Luca Vergallito the moment has finally arrived this year to face off for the first time in his career with the roads and climate of our Grand Tour, namely the Giro d'Italia.

At 28 years old, therefore, and after a peculiar (and now well-known to many) entry into professionalism, the Milan-based rider has realized what, in most cases, is the main dream of every Italian cyclist by taking the start of the 109th Giro Rosa, a race that for him and his Alpecin-Premier Tech took on a different turn from what was hoped for due to the abandonment, at the fourth stage, of Kaden Groves.

Having lost his leading sprinter and the main candidate to deliver at least one victory to the Belgian team, the Roodhooft brothers' squad therefore tried to seek their fortune by repeatedly launching themselves into daily breakaways without, however, obtaining, at least so far, particularly striking results.

In this collective mission "Il Bandito" (this is Vergallito's nickname) has not held back at all, as demonstrated by the 97 kilometers spent in the breakaway during the Naples stage, a stage poorly suited to his characteristics as a climber who many, he first and foremost, hope can shine more in the sequence of tough days that will bring down the curtain on the 2026 Giro.

In view of these tests that promise to be extremely demanding and intense, we sought to understand how the winner of the Zwift Academy 2022 is doing by asking him for personal feedback on the first half of the Giro Rosa.

Luca, what are your feelings after thirteen days of racing?

"The first few days I didn't feel very well, then stage after stage I had better sensations. In general, I'm not satisfied with what I've done so far: in the breakaway I wasn't able to achieve anything and, moreover, some finishes that I raced conservatively thinking about saving energy for the following days I could have interpreted differently. If I could go back, therefore, probably I would change something. However, there are still almost a dozen stages to dispute with several opportunities, so I'll try to change my attitude and attempt to achieve something good for myself and for the team".

How much did the crash and Groves' exit impact your Giro?

"Clearly losing him so early scrambled our plans. For us there couldn't have been a worse withdrawal because the main objective for this Giro Rosa was to hunt for victories with him and his retirement made everything more difficult from the start. Despite this, however, the atmosphere in the team remained positive".

You dropped out of the general classification on the second stage: was this a choice you had already made before the start to focus on chasing stages?

"Exactly".

Your best result in a Grand Tour, namely 9th place on stage 13 of the 2024 Vuelta, came in the final third of the race: do you have the impression that in this Giro you could also step up your performance in the concluding part?

"The sensations are positive and that's already something: compared to the beginning of the race, I see that with equal effort on the climbs I can position myself better and this is an encouraging sign for me. Being able to achieve results, however, will depend a lot on others and on luck".

For what are your and your team's ambitions, do you hope that Vingegaard can get his hands on the pink jersey and close the general classification issue as soon as possible so that the group can get the green light for attacks from far away?

"I don't think a Vingegaard in pink would change much. Bahrain, in fact, is not particularly interested in controlling the race now either... Overall, I don't think that a team's attitude could overturn the dynamics of a group that is unleashed, that knows there are chances almost every day and for this reason has so many elements always ready to seek breakaways".

Among the remaining stages, perhaps the one most suited to a long-range breakaway is the Andalo stage: is this a stage you/your team have targeted or are there others in particular that you've focused on?

"Actually, I don't yet have a clear picture of what awaits us next week. I know that today's stage is very demanding and could be ideal (although perhaps it's a bit too hard for me) to try to make a mark, but the fractions of the third week I honestly still need to study".

What differences have you found between the Vuelta and the Giro, apart obviously from the temperatures?

"In terms of racing, I can't think of many. Certainly I feel at home here but, if I look at the two races, in the end not much changes apart from the heat. A different type of climbs? Yes, but that always depends in the end on how the route is designed".

After the Vuelta two years ago you stated that you were missing 20 watts to be able to fight for victory in a Grand Tour stage: would you revise this estimate upward?

"Certainly more are needed today, but I haven't yet reached the point of fighting for a stage victory, so it's difficult for me to make an estimate".