Different team, same role: Koen Bouwman on returning to Potenza where his Giro fairy tale began four years ago

Stage five of the Giro d'Italia finishes in Potenza on Wednesday. For most riders, it is simply the day's destination. Not for Koen Bouwman of Jayco AlUla. It was here that the Dutchman took the first of his two stage wins and the mountains jersey at the 2022 Giro d'Italia — a race that will always be defined, in part, by him. IDL Pro Cycling caught up with him ahead of this year's edition.

Many riders will remember 13 May 2022 — four years ago to the day. The blond Dutchman was part of a lead group featuring compatriots Tom Dumoulin (also his teammate at the time), Bauke Mollema and Wout Poels, and executed a beautifully timed sprint after brilliant work from Dumoulin. Mollema and Davide Formolo were left behind as an ecstatic Bouwman — who had already picked up the mountains jersey along the way — threw himself into the arms of the 2017 Giro winner and thanked him at length. Later in the same race, Bouwman added a second stage win and was crowned mountains king in Verona — the first Dutch rider ever to do so.

Bouwman only needs a fraction of a second to place stage five when we mention it. "Ah, Potenza of course?" he says with a smile. "It is a slightly different finish and a slightly different stage, but it's a nice one. Last year we actually started a stage there — right from the spot where we finished in 2022."

"I still have wonderful memories of that and I always will: those two wins and the mountains jersey made my career. Everything that comes after is simply a bonus," says Bouwman, now racing for Jayco AlUla.

"It's not as if it all comes flooding back," Bouwman says — though on Wednesday he will certainly take a moment to look around at the finish. "My girlfriend" — Carlijn Achtereekte, the Dutch speed skater who won Olympic gold in the 3,000 metres at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang and later also raced as a cyclist with Visma | Lease a Bike, where she now works in hospitality — "has just retired from elite sport, and she says now: you should really take the time to enjoy the moment more often."

"We don't talk about sport or cycling much at home, but that's good advice," Bouwman says. "It's a bit different now — before, we were both elite athletes at home, and now it's just one of us. But then again, not much has really changed: we supported each other then and we still do. Her with what I do, me with what she's doing now."

"When you come back to Potenza, you try to take a moment to think about what a special thing you've achieved. Though, at the same time — the race just keeps going and you almost forget it straight away," laughs Bouwman, who uses both the iconic Giro roadbook Garibaldi and the modern cycling tracker VeloViewer. A cycling romantic with one foot in the data age.

"I'm a bit of both, to be honest. The Garibaldi is the only race roadbook I keep. If you walk into my living room, there's no cycling anywhere — but the Garibaldis from the Giros I've ridden are sitting in a row on the bookshelf. Not prominently displayed, but if you know what you're looking for, you can see them. And no, the blue mountains jersey isn't in the living room either. But the Giro is still my favourite race — a race I always love coming back to."

The Dutchman is indeed now into his eighth Giro d'Italia, starting with a dual role. "I'm one of the key domestiques for Ben O'Connor in the high mountains. He may not be the absolute favourite, but behind Jonas Vingegaard there are a handful of strong riders who can genuinely fight for the podium. Ben can go very high — but everything has to click into place. My job is to help him as best I can."

"In this team there will also be opportunities to slip into breakaways, but you need the legs for that. I'm certainly hoping I can show that in week two or three," he continues. "I rode with Visma for a long time, so I do have a small insight into how they tend to race."

"That's also why I think this Giro is going to be very open for attackers. It's a slightly atypical edition — there aren't five stages with 4,000 metres of climbing or more. It will be different in that sense, though a Grand Tour is always hard, and in the end the strongest riders always rise to the surface."

Just before the Giro, a new project was announced: Bouwman will be joining Sam Oomen, Fabio Jakobsen, journalist Thijs Zonneveld and Nando Boers for a new podcast series. "Not about the news," Zonneveld explained at the launch, "but about what the profession of professional cyclist actually involves." The first episode is already online.

"The podcast was an initiative from Nando and Sam, and then Fabio called me. I'll be honest — I don't listen to many podcasts or follow cycling sites much — but I really connect with the concept they have in mind. The stories behind the medals, as I'd put it. Subjects that are just a bit different from what you normally hear and read about."

"There's absolutely nothing commercial behind it," Bouwman emphasises. "We just do it when we have the time. If we make five episodes, we make five. If it's eight, it's eight. It comes from enjoyment, first and foremost. In a podcast you can give things a bit more depth — and that's the idea. But above all, it's just fun."