CYCLING – BAHRAIN Victorious Development Team rider Jakob Omrzel expressed his delight after achieving the squad’s most significant victory in its history.
Omrzel took the overall win in the 48th Giro d’Italia Next Gen, held in Italy. The event, also known as ‘Baby Giro’, is an amateur road race that is one of the most important and formative events on the under-23 international cycling calendar.
The Slovenian climbed to the top of the general classification (GC) after eight challenging stages to take the Maglia Rosa, or pink jersey, as victor. He also won the Maglia Bianca, or white jersey, for the best young rider.
“Nine months ago, I was at my lowest (after crashing at the Giro della Lunigiana), but I never stopped believing in a comeback to achieve the best goals,” said Omrzel.
“The Giro Next Gen has been a goal since I started cycling again after the crash. We did a good preparation with the team in altitude, and racing at the Tour of Slovenia with the World Tour team gave me a lot of confidence and new knowledge. They gave me another perspective on cycling.
“You need to be a complete rider to win the Giro Next Gen and I think I showed I am. I still can’t believe that I won and I’ll need some days to let it sink in.
“The team had confidence in me and helped so much. I can’t thank the riders, staff, people helping me from home, my family and my friends enough, because I would not be here without them.
“Next some rest to recharge and then focus on the Tour de l’Avenir and the world championships.”
Bahrain Victorious Development Team sports director Alessio Matiussi reflected on what has been an unquestionably successful eight days.
“We started the race with the dual objectives of a stage win and top five overall with Omrzel,” he said. “The race went even better than we expected with the Maglia Rosa, young rider’s jersey, a stage win, and three more stage podiums.
“The team worked well as a group, not just as riders but friends too, and the results showed it. I would also like to thank all the staff that helped during the race to make sure that the riders had everything they needed and could just focus on racing.”
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