Antonio Tiberi welcomes Pogacar and UAE’s racing style ahead of Tour debut: ‘It suits me’

Among them will be Tadej Pogačar. Tiberi has already experienced the Slovenian’s dominance at the 2024 Giro d’Italia and is now facing him again at the Tour de Suisse before their next meeting in July.

That Giro marked Tiberi’s breakthrough at Grand Tour level. He won the Maglia Bianca as the best young rider and finished fifth overall in a race Pogačar dominated from start to finish. The Slovenian won six stages and took the overall title by a huge margin, with Tiberi ending the race more than 12 minutes behind.

Yet rather than fearing the hard racing imposed by Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Tiberi believes their approach can actually suit him.

“I know Pogačar’s way of racing quite well, as well as how UAE operate when he is there,” Tiberi said to bici.pro. “I have to admit that their approach suits me. They make the race hard from the beginning, but they keep it steady. When I am feeling good, I like that way of racing.”

As he works to rediscover his race rhythm in Switzerland, the Italian is also learning what to expect from his first Tour de France, how Bahrain’s leadership will be divided and where his ambitions should lie.

The Tour is the only Grand Tour missing from Tiberi’s record. He has already raced the Giro d’Italia twice and the Vuelta a España four times, but the scale and intensity of the Grande Boucle will present a new challenge.

Tiberi believes the timing of his Tour debut is right. At 25, he has already gained considerable Grand Tour experience and now wants to discover whether the French race suits him better than the Giro or the Vuelta.

That is a possibility his experienced teammate Damiano Caruso has raised several times.

“Damiano has been saying for years that the Tour is a stage race that is better suited to my characteristics than the Giro or the Vuelta,” Tiberi said. “That is why I am curious to see how those feelings translate onto the road.”

Caruso and others within Bahrain Victorious have also warned him that previous Grand Tour experience will only prepare him to a certain extent.

“The sports directors and my teammates have told me that the Tour de France is a world of its own,” Tiberi said. “It is a completely different story.”

The size of the crowds, the level of the field and the intensity of the racing make the Tour unlike any other event on the calendar. For Tiberi, that creates a mixture of excitement and uncertainty.

“It is exciting,” he said. “I feel the same way I did when I was preparing to ride the Giro for the first time. There is a little anxiety because you are about to do something new. I am curious to test myself and discover what I can achieve.”

Tiberi is expected to share Bahrain Victorious’ leadership with Lenny Martinez. Rather than establishing a strict hierarchy before the race, the team plans to let the road determine its strategy.

“Lenny and I will be the leaders,” Tiberi said. “Then the road will decide, day by day, depending on how the three weeks develop.”

Caruso is also expected to be part of the Tour squad. The veteran recently completed the Giro d’Italia, but because he did not ride for the general classification, Tiberi expects him to arrive less fatigued. With 2026 set to be Caruso’s final season as a professional, the Tour could also become one of the last major races of his career.

His presence could prove valuable as Tiberi enters unfamiliar territory. Caruso has both the experience and tactical understanding to guide him through the pressures of a first Tour, and his support for Afonso Eulálio at the Giro showed how naturally he fits that role.

Tiberi, however, does not want to become distracted by the names around him or by his position within the team.

“I do not want to focus on my rivals,” he said. “I will stay concentrated on myself and on discovering my limits. But if there is an opportunity to fight, I certainly will not hold back.”