BARCELONA (Spain) – Yesterday's team time trial was not only the opening of the 2026 Grande Boucle, but also the debut at Tour de France of five ItaliansAll young, or very young, who for various reasons found themselves at the start of the most important race in the world.
We deal with Lorenzo Germani, Marco Frigo, Antonio Tiberi, Stefano Oldani e Davide Piganzoli. Five names that we analyzed together with Giuseppe Martinelli. The historic sports director helps us understand what it means for these guys to be at the start of the Tour and what kind of race they can compete in.
Davide Piganzoli
Giuseppe, let's start with perhaps the biggest surprise. Piganzoli was included in your team's roster practically at the last minute. Of these five, he seems to have the most unusual role...
In my opinion, they took into account the fact that this guy is really strong. I mean, initially it wasn't in the plans to bring him to the Tour. But they saw him at the Tour of Italy And something changed. They helped him recover a bit. Sure, he went to the Route d'Occitanie, which he won, but I don't think he spent a lot. At that point, in my opinion, in Visma-Lease a Bike they had already decided to take him to the Tour.
Maybe they sent him to Occitanie to see how he was after the Giro, regarding recovery and condition…
Certainly. Visma is not a team that makes last-minute decisions. Maybe they only told him at the end to leave him feeling calm and at peace.
And how will it go?
I'm not saying he'll stay ahead at the Tour like he did at the Giro, but he can do well, and that was evident in yesterday's time trial. They have faith in Piganzoli. As I repeat, this isn't a team that does things by chance. Maybe they also want to have an extra weapon to make things a little more difficult for the UAE Emirates or at least to defend themselves from his squadron. They probably don't have all these top-level climbers in their squad when it comes to climbing. So they included him in the group, as happened to me a few times.
How would you have proposed it to him?
You tell the boy, "You're gaining experience, you're starting to understand the Tour." "If you can ride at the front on a few days, so much the better." But in his case, as I mentioned before, there's also the fact that he's objectively strong. And he's young, but not very young in terms of experience.
What do you want to say?
Even though he is 23 years old, he gained some experience at Polti. We are not talking about a completely novice rider. He's already starting to learn how to handle problems over the course of the 21 days. Of course, he'll have to face everything calmly.
Piganzoli will be Vingegaard's assistant on the climbs. But, knowing the Tour, what does it mean to him to experience his first Tour alongside a rider who might even win it?
It's an experience that will remain etched in his memory. Then the Tour crushes you. You're in a cauldron, and in the end you don't even have time to think about where you are, because from morning to night you live inside an incredible meat grinder. Piganzoli must have the courage to do things his way and trust the team completely.
Stefano Oldani
Let's move on to the stage hunters. Stefano Oldani: What's your fellow countryman up to?
Stefano has been a bit like this for a couple of seasons now. He's at the Caja Rural-Seguros, a Spanish team. If a Spanish team brings an Italian to race the Tour, it means that rider is strong. And he knows how to ride fast. I remember him when he switched to Lotto and then won that stage of the Giro d'Italia. That day they were pulling very hard behind him and couldn't catch him.
What kind of tour will Oldani's be?
He's on an invited team. He and his companions will have to try to break away and make themselves seen. Caja Rural's goal will be to join the day's breakaway, even though that's incredibly difficult to achieve at the Tour. They don't let you go. You have to be strong enough to even join the breakaway, otherwise you'll try but stay in the group. That's why I say they brought him to the Tour because he deserves it.
Ultimately, it's a team of fighters and they did well at the Tour of Slovenia...
Exactly. In a team like that, there must have been a significant selection process and they must have brought in the best players. Then Oldani is a rider who has already competed in several Grand Tours and is relatively experienced. He will have the task of showing off and maybe even managing to get to the end.
Lorenzo Germani
From one stage hunter to another, who could also be a team player: Lorenzo Germani…
The fact that a French team bringing an Italian to the Tour means a lot, Even though Germani practically comes from their youth system. He's been at Groupama-FDJ for several years now. He has a long-term contract, so it means they believe in him. Everything he does, small or large, will be amplified in a profoundly French team like Groupama. It's a historic formation: when you arrive on the bus, everyone knows you. If he even makes one escape, he'll almost become an adopted Frenchman. Lorenzo has an incredible opportunity to make himself known... to the world.
Besides, they hold him in high esteem there. And he could help Captain Gregoire…
I'm going back to what I was saying: he now looks like an adopted Frenchman. Lorenzo hasn't achieved any sensational results so far, but if he's stayed all these years, it means he's done something important for that team.
He's also a good friend of Romain Grégoire, with whom he shares a room. And Grégoire has the French champion's jersey...
It will also be a great opportunity for Grégoire wearing the French tricolour jersey. They care a lot about it and will surely try to invent something. Maybe he'll even drop out of the rankings, since it's very tight this year. If you can finish sixth or seventh without winning a stage, that's fine, but winning the Tour wearing the French champion's jersey—do you know what it means?
Marco Frigo
Let's move on to the fourth Italian rookie. Another libero, at least when he's not working for Girmay: Marco Frigo. What can you tell us about him?
Frigo, in my opinion, needs to find himself again. He's on a Garibaldi team where he might not even have a specific role. I think he's the true libero. He needs to break away like he did in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta. He's got it in his legs. He has the strength to be a protagonist in more than one stage.
So Martinelli believes in him a lot?
Yes, because this guy is really strong. It has an incredible engine, but it hasn't yet achieved what it deserves. The Tour is the hardest place to get a result, but if you're strong, it also becomes the easiest. Easy in quotation marks, of course. Because if you're strong at the Tour, you stay ahead. For sure.
Sometimes it was bad luck, between injuries and bad tactics: perhaps that's why Frigo achieved less than he could have?
Yes but Many times the tactics are made by the legs. Therefore I expect him to be in the gameThe same thing applies as before: if a team without a GC rider has brought him to the Tour, it's because he's strong. In these teams, unlike the big teams that have a sprinter or a captain for the GC, there's a very tough selection process. The eight chosen must be able to keep up with the pace of the Tour. Let's take Fortunato at XDS-Astana, for example. How can you not bring it? If you don't bring it, it's because there's some problem, maybe physical.
Compared to the others, is Frigo the one who can experience the Tour with the most lightheartedness?
Definitely yes.
Antonio Tiberi
Finally, there's Antonio Tiberi. There are also many questions about his Tour. Lenny Martinez was the designated captain, but he announced he won't be aiming for the overall standings. So, will it be the Lazio native's turn?
This guy is 25 years old and looks like he's 30, both because he's been competing in the pros all his life and because of the way he carries himself. Maybe we always expect too much from him. I think he said a while back that he wanted to go to the Tour to get into the rankings. Maybe this time is the right time. But if you asked me what he could do, I'd say a bit of everything... but he has to decide once and for all.
Do you still see him undecided?
I agree that it's often the legs and the opponents that decide the outcome, but I think he's still searching for the real Tiberi. He's still chasing that fifth place at last year's Giro, which could easily have been a podium finish without the Oropa issue.
If you were his sporting director, what would you tell him to do?
I would tell him to really try to rankIt's difficult because there are so many opponents, but if you're strong, it's not impossible: you just have to race with the best and give it your all when the race explodes. Also because winning a stage is incredibly difficult. Let's do the math: how many stages can Pogacar win? Four or five. Vingegaard? A couple. Then there are the sprinters, the time trials... and in the end, there are very few opportunities for the others. For someone like Tiberi, in my opinion, the general classification is the ideal goal.
In fact, Antonio seems a bit in limbo…
That's why I'd really let him rank. It's the easiest way to get there, at least in terms of how he should rank and how he should consequently race.
However, it's also true that he hasn't shone in the last two stage races, in Romandie and Switzerland...
Maybe he didn't play them at his best because he was already thinking about the Tour. Let's not forget that he had already decided in the winter to prepare for this race without going through the Giro.It means he's worked well towards this goal. Now let's see what he can achieve.
