Vincenzo Nibali’s prediction of a podium finish might not quite come true, but Antonio Tiberi has shown enough in this Giro d’Italia to suggest that he has a future as a Grand Tour rider.
With four stages remaining, the Italian lies fifth overall at 10:29, while the white jersey of best young rider sits a little more snugly on the Bahrain Victorious rider's shoulders after the summit finish on the Passo Brocon on stage 17.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), as per the established script of this Giro, was operating on an altogether higher plane on Wednesday, pressing clear with disarming facility with two kilometres to go. Tiberi, however, was once again among the most pugnacious of the group of GC contenders behind Pogačar, accelerating in the final kilometre to take third place on the stage behind the maglia rosa and the day’s winner Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost).
Small wonder that Tiberi wore a broad smile when he arrived in the mixed zone after the podium ceremony. This Giro was couched as an audition for his future prospects as the coming man of Italian stage racing, and he has steadied himself considerably after a brief wobble on the tappone to Livigno on Sunday.
“Today was a super day for me,” Tiberi said. “I’m really very happy. The legs were great all day and the final climb went very well. In the end I tried to follow Pogačar, but the rhythm was too high. I still did a bit of an attack and gained time on Ben O’Connor and Thymen Arensman.”
Tiberi earned plaudits from Pogačar for his attacks at Prati di Tivo and Bocca della Selva earlier in the race, and he was again keen to push on the pace in the finale here. After quickly realising that Pogačar was travelling at a speed he simply could not match, Tiberi recalibrated and saved his effort for inside the final kilometre.
By then, Tiberi knew he was gaining ground on the fourth-placed O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and on Arenseman (Ineos Grenadiers), his rival for the white jersey, so he forced the pace at the head of a group featuring Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Daniel Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe). Tiberi came home in third, 1:24 down on Steinhauser, but he picked up 17 seconds on Arensman and 45 on O’Connor.
“At the beginning, we tried to follow Tadej, but the pace was too hard for me, Martínez and Thomas,” Tiberi said. “But I still tried to do some attacks, especially when I saw O’Connor and Arensman had been dropped. I did the last 700m at full gas to try to gain time on them.”
In the young rider classification, Tiberi now leads Arensman by 41 seconds. While the Frosinone native is also less than a minute off O’Connor’s fourth place in the overall standings, though he acknowledged that a podium finish is likely out of reach, despite a rugged stage to Sappada on Friday and a double ascent of Monte Grappa the following day.
“For the podium, it’s hard because Martínez and Thomas are still going well and they’re always up there,” Tiberi said. “But I’ll certainly give everything for fourth place until Bassano del Grappa.”
Tiberi is a Giro debutant, with his previous Grand Tour experience limited to two appearances at the Vuelta a España. He finished 18th overall in Madrid last year, but he lined up as Bahrain Victorious’ leader for this Giro with the aim of faring considerably better. He confessed to feeling that pressure earlier in the race, but the 22-year-old has looked more assured as the race has gone by. The lone obvious crisis came at Livigno, where he paid for his efforts in the previous day’s time trial.
“This is giving me a lot of confidence,” Tiberi said. “I was hoping for it after the experience in the Vuelta, because I was always good in third week. I’ve had a confirmation of that here and I think I’ve gone better than expected. Now let’s hope I can stay like that until Rome.”
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