In this active and surprising cycle market like it hasn't been for a long time, there are also returns to the past, riders who want to rediscover their best feeling re-embracing teams and formulas that had proven successful. This is the case of Giacomo Nicelo, who at 34 years old is back in the game by returning home Ryder, Q36.5.
For the Ligurian the direct descendant formation of Qhubeka is the team where he experienced the best seasons, from 2019 to 2021, He even won the Italian and European championship jerseys. Ryder welcomed him back into his family, and without the "prodigal son" rhetoric, because they have always maintained contact, building on a friendship that transcends cycling.
"In 2018, Giacomo was doing very well at Trek," says the South African manager. "He was very happy there, but he was also looking for a change. He felt he was growing and wanted more opportunities to be a leader in the classics. Giacomo is a champion who always feels the need for a challengeHe saw this opportunity with us, and it was a good thing for him. He grew as a rider, he had many opportunities. He won a stage at the Giro, something he'd never done before. He was Italian and European champion. Giacomo doesn't win many races, but he scores a lot of points and is always up there fighting for the result. He gave us the attention we needed and he can do it again."
Nizzolo stayed on your team for 3 years: what was your relationship like with him, what kind of person was he?
Giacomo is a fighter, which is what I like. I like someone who gets up every day and fights for a result and for performance. He's a leader and a great mentor for the younger riders. Our relationship has always been very good and reflects our culture, always fighting for every position. We've actually had very honest and open conversations about how to be better.So, having a rider of his ability as our guide, even at his age of 34, we see him still capable of delivering top performances and leading our team through the classics and major races.
Why did you ask him to come back?
It was actually a pretty funny thing, it almost happened at the same time he asked me and I asked him, we met at a race and he came up to me and was like, «Hey Doug, I like the look of your teamIt's great to see you back in our sport. You have great sponsors, good equipment, a really quality bike. I have so many things I still want to do. I enjoyed it when we worked well together, I think we can still do great things. What do you think? And I was over the moon: "Damn Giacomo, having you back on the team would be awesome"For us, having him on our team is perfect and evidently it's the same for him.
You know him well: in recent years Giacomo has had physical problems and less results than in the years with you, have you found a changed man?
Some teams don't focus on the individual details. We don't hire cyclists to fit them into roles like sprinters, climbers, etc. We look at their goals, their dreams, and how we can succeed together. Giacomo has had some injuries in the past. When he joined our team in 2019, We sat down and said, “Okay, let’s get to the root cause of the injuries and try to solve the underlying problem.” So we spent a few months figuring out what was causing his knee pain and problems, and then we fixed it. From there, we started moving forward. Since then, he hasn't had the injuries he had in the past. So we are very optimistic about the future together, but as a team we focus on the individual and their challenges.
Do you think he's still a winner at 34?
Definitely. He wins races every year.He's scored more than a thousand UCI points over the years with us, which is really good. And that was before the points system was improved for Grand Tour stages. We really hope we can have some great results together. the motivation and attention to bring it back to what it was two or three years ago.
Are you planning on putting some young people alongside him to learn the trade of sprinting?
We had Antonio Puppy, who returned to us after a year at Israel. We just announced the arrival of Frederik Frisian, who joined us from Lotto-Dstiny. He's a very strong Belgian rider. We have some really strong riders around Giacomo who can support him, but he can help develop others like Walter. Calzoni, who can learn a lot from Giacomo, or Puppio himself or Parisians. I'm thrilled to have Giacomo's commitment and passion on the team, and his leadership. And then, of course, his opportunity to help younger riders understand the sport better, train better, and be better.
How do you rate your season so far?
We won five races. We hoped to win more, but if you think back to when we put together our team in September last year, all the top riders had already signed contracts with other teams. We brought together 24 riders who had never run together before, and it was a really tough challenge. But I'm happy with what we managed to achieve.We've been invited to some of the big classic races and we're looking forward to finishing strong at the end of this year and then building on the foundation we've built. Because I think that we are starting to really see the team's potential that we had on paper at the beginning of the year. We know that our big goal is to be admitted to the Giro d'Italia next yearThis is a great achievement for us.
