Matteo Malucelli, outsider for the first pink jersey, knows how to win in Burgas: 'Second goal is to finish the Giro'

The Giro d'Italia gets underway in Bulgaria on Friday — which means many riders will be able to tick that country off an already well-travelled world map. Not everyone, though. Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana) won the Tour of Bulgaria two years ago, including a stage finish in Burgas — the very same town where Friday's stage ends. He spoke to IDL Pro Cycling about it.

Finding a good local angle at the start of a Grand Tour can be a challenge. For the Tour de France (Barcelona this year) and the Vuelta a España (starting in Monaco), that's rarely a problem — but for the Giro, it often requires a bit more digging. After Budapest, Hungary in 2022 and Tirana, Albania in 2025, Bulgaria was again a case of searching for connections.

But we found some: Jonas Vingegaard has already been on holiday there, there are no Bulgarian professional cyclists — but there is the Tour of Bulgaria. Those with a connection to the race include Timo Kielich (now at Visma | Lease a Bike), who won a stage there in 2021, and Lukas Kubis and Matyas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets), who have also performed well. And in 2024, Malucelli won the overall classification and three stages — including the one in Burgas.

"It wasn't exactly the same finish," he tells us at the team presentation in that same city. "In 2024, at the point where we still have one kilometre to go now, we turned left. But it was still in Burgas, so I have fond memories of the place."

What kind of memories? "There was a lot of wind, so that's something we'll need to watch closely on Friday. And when there's wind, the race can split. But beyond that, I don't remember a huge amount of the details," says the XDS Astana sprint leader.

"Davide Ballerini will help me, and the rest of the team is counting on me too — but it's my first stage in a Grand Tour, and straight away there's a chance of a sprint and the pink jersey. That alone brings a lot of emotions with it, but important is to stay calm."

The fast Italian beat big favourite Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek, who also explicitly named Malucelli as one to watch on Friday) at the AlUla Tour this year, and came close at the UAE Tour as well. Now, at the age of 32, he is embarking on his first Giro — and his first Grand Tour of any kind. "It's even the first Grand Tour of my entire career. I feel more than ready, and I'll give absolutely everything."

"The form is good — maybe the best of my life. The numbers are good, and I've done everything I can to be at my very best here," says Malucelli, who after his Middle East races only took one more start this season, at the Tour of Hainan in early April.

"I did a lot of training in the mountains and went on two dedicated training camps to prepare," he explains of his build-up. "First I was on Etna, in Sicily, and afterwards in Livigno as well. I was able to do a lot of climbing there, while also continuing to work on my sprint."

"That was perfect — but how it will translate over three weeks? That's something we can't know just yet," he says. "My second goal in this Grand Tour is to finish my first Grand Tour. The first goal is to sprint as much as possible — but after that, it's about getting to Rome."

Because there too — just like in Burgas — there's another sprint finish waiting...