No Vuelta for Filippo Fiorelli, but Visma gives him autumn sprint chances: ‘I feel so much better’

It was a fairly surprising transfer last winter when Filippo Fiorelli left Bardiani for Visma | Lease a Bike. In his first year with his new team, the Italian managed to win Tro-Bro Léon, although there had initially been some concerns about how well he would integrate. Speaking extensively to Bici, the 31-year-old veteran discussed his first months at Visma and what still lies ahead.

After a fairly extensive spring campaign that continued until the middle of June, Fiorelli returns to racing on Monday at the Tour of Poland. His spring was ultimately a successful one thanks to his victory in the Tro Bro Leon, but there had been some concerns behind the scenes. “They told me that immediately after I signed the contract, the sports directors were a little worried about how I would settle into the team.”

Their concern, he explained, was “that I might not settle in or fit into the system. But they hadn’t realised that I’m Sicilian,” Fiorelli said with a smile. “I pick things up quickly; that is simply the way I am. I can adapt quickly, I feel comfortable wherever you put me and I know how to behave.”

The language barrier was considered one of the biggest potential problems, as Fiorelli suddenly had to communicate in English. “I got on the plane and went there without anyone who spoke Italian. At first, I somehow managed to make myself understood. That was the aspect that could have caused me problems, but in the end I managed it and began my development process.”

Fiorelli continued to make progress within the team. “I feel so much better. Some of my teammates tell me that I don’t look like a sprinter at all, and they’re right, because my endurance has improved enormously. After four or five hours, I can still produce the same power that I can when I’m fresh.”

Improved endurance or not, Fiorelli will not ride a Grand Tour this year. “But let’s say it doesn’t bother me that much,” the Italian explained. “I have also seen proof that the team was right not to send me to the Giro, because there were other races that suited me better.”

“Ultimately, you go to a Grand Tour to help the team, and you might receive one opportunity at most,” Fiorelli continued. “When I rode for Bardiani, every day apart from the time trials represented an opportunity. Here, those opportunities are very limited, and on the few occasions you do get one, you have to be at your very best. And when we are talking about the Giro and the Tour, where the team goes with Jonas, perhaps those opportunities simply aren’t there at all.”

Precisely because he will not be going to the Vuelta, Fiorelli expects to receive opportunities this autumn. “The team told me that because I’m not going to the Vuelta, where Brennan and Van Aert will be, I’ll be the rider contesting the sprints. Zingle is unavailable because of surgery, so I’ll have to take responsibility in the sprints.”

Those opportunities will not necessarily come in conventional bunch sprints. “That is mainly because I won’t have a team working entirely in support of me, but I’ll try to contest a few sprints. In the other races, I’ll ride in support of one of my teammates.” Fiorelli should nevertheless have opportunities in Hamburg and Plouay. “Those are races where I can really play my own cards, because I like the course. In 2022, I finished fifth behind Van Aert.”