It has not been, at least so far, a particularly exciting season for Alessandro Covi. In his first year with Jayco AlUla after a long stint with UAE, the 1998-born Piedmontese rider has not found the results and consistency of performance he was looking for, and moreover, in some circumstances, he has also had to deal with some ailments that prevented him from following the calendar he had put together with his team.

Time, however, is still somewhat on his side: from now until the end of 2026, the "Puma" from Taino will not lack opportunities to, once he finds good form, give his season another direction and shine in the colors that, since January, have become his new team.

With the idea of making the most of this opportunity, after the triple of races in Spain at the end of July and beginning of August, Covi headed to the Arctic Race of Norway where we met him to better understand his state of mind, his opinion on the season he has lived so far, and with what mentality he will face the final stretch of 2026.

Alessandro, first of all, how are you doing?

"I've had a rather difficult summer. I was supposed to race the Tour de France but I got sick in the weeks before and so I had to restart my preparation and only recently have I gotten back to racing. Now, though, I'd say everything is going well and after these last races I should do the Vuelta".

Do you have an altitude training camp planned before the Spanish race?

"No. In the end, the twenty-one days of racing at the Vuelta will perfectly prepare you for the final stretch of the season, and I've already done altitude camps in the first part of the season: now we're just thinking about racing".

From a mental perspective, how difficult was it to digest the withdrawals from the Italian Championships and the Tour?

"I'd say it was very complicated but unfortunately, with this type of situation, we've gotten quite used to it. I sincerely hope that something good comes along that can repay the sacrifices made this season: I would really need it to wake myself up a bit".

In these first months you've put yourself very much at the service of the team: will we see you with more responsibility in this final stretch of 2026?

"I hope so. I really hope to be able to show that I deserve to have my chances in race finales and to seek some results because that's, in the end, what I feel I'm missing. You know, when you change teams to seek results and then you find yourself not getting them, it's tough. This, combined with other things, has meant that 2026 so far has been a rather difficult year mentally... There is, however, still the Vuelta to race and we're talking about a great stage, so if I could do well there, I believe I could partially salvage the season".

Overall, what's your assessment of this first season with Jayco AlUla?

"Negative in terms of results, and those are what keep me alive. I won't hide the fact that I like being present in races and helping the team, but what really gives me the drive to train hard is always the thought of being able to achieve a good result. Obviously, when you don't get them for a while, you enter a vicious cycle that's hard to get out of because you start not understanding how much you're worth, you don't know what you can do... I hope to regain good sensations and subsequently, as a consequence, also good performances".

How have you found things in Jayco AlUla so far?

"The environment at Jayco is very nice, you feel absolutely good there and it's different from UAE. Before joining this team, I had experienced professional cycling and the approach to racing only from their perspective, which is different, I think, from that of 90% of teams since, with them, in almost every race you have to take the responsibility of controlling the race. At Jayco you race in a different way, it took me a few months to adapt and understand it, but now I'm confident I can do well with their mentality".

What are the biggest differences you've noticed compared to UAE?

"At UAE you practically always start with four riders who can potentially win the race and this, in a sense, lowers the pressure because you know that, around you, you have four captains who can control the race. If you're then racing with Tadej, I'm not saying you're already certain to win, but the pressure is even lower: working for him is "very easy," it's almost harder to make mistakes than to do things right because what he asks of you to help him is very simple. From that perspective, coming to us and talking about leaders, I would have liked to work with and see Matthews up close but unfortunately he crashed at the end of February and I didn't have that luck: regardless of that, though, we know him, he's certainly also a valid rider who, in my opinion, can really do great things. The same can be said of Vendrame, who had a phenomenal start to the season and was going really strong before crashing at the Giro: I got along very well with him and it was really a pleasure to help him, I hope to see him battling again in the final stretch of 2026 to seek some good results".