For those who don't know me yet, my name is Larry Warbasse and I am an American professional cyclist riding for the Tudor Pro Cycling Team out of Switzerland. I'll be taking you along for the ride the next three weeks as I race my seventh Giro d'Italia, only the second Grand Tour in the history of our young team.
From Durres in Albania to Rome the final day, hopefully I can provide you all with some interesting insights into daily life as a bike racer in a Grand Tour with some funny anecdotes along the way. I hope you enjoy.
The Grande Partenza
"Watch out!" I yelled, as I too frequently do, trying to signal a massive crater in the road to my teammates behind. As I swerved to avoid it on my BMC TimeMachine TT bike, I hit a different bump just next to it, and my sunscreen-coated gloveless hand slipped from the bar, and I stumbled, only to somehow catch myself with my wrist and keep my bike upright. It was a close call.
My Giro nearly ended before it started here in Albania, but luckily, my teammates and I all made it to the start line in Durres in one piece. And out of the first three stages for that matter, which, seeing how it started on our first ride here, seems like a big win.
Foreign starts in Grand Tours like this one in Albania for the 2025 Giro are always special. They bring a different ambience and flavour to the race, often with huge crowds and a fair share of stress, but it always seems like the number one objective is to get out of the first few stages safe and make it to the home country of the race.
And while I have to say we were somewhat worried about the state of the roads after our two pre-Giro training rides, the ones we raced on were in quite good condition. I also find that when everyone is on high alert in the bunch - for example, on rainy days or with terrible roads - it seems like there are even fewer crashes than normal, I think because of the increased focus with the greater perceived danger.
So, on the whole, I think there seemed to be a fair number fewer crashes in the race than normal for the first few days of a Grand Tour, which is a very good thing.
My team is here with a mixed group of riders, a few guys for the sprints, and a few climbers for the mountains and GC. Our hopes are mainly pinned on Michael Storer, our Aussie GC rider/climber extraordinaire and recent winner of the Tour of the Alps. The dude has an engine.
He also happens to have the pleasure of rooming with yours truly for the next three weeks. So obviously, perfectly set up to have a great race. We have two Dutchies, three Germans, and a Swiss rider to complete the international group. As it's my 13th season as a professional, I am the "veteran" of the team here, ready to guide the young guys through the ups and downs of the race.
But even after so many seasons as a pro, it's still hard to get the lead in to a Grand Tour right. It's a fine line between resting and recovering enough to be fresh for three weeks of racing, yet primed enough to go from Stage 1. And as you can see from the first few days, even some of the leaders don't always get it right.
We are so used to training and racing under so much fatigue that if you take too much rest before, you actually perform worse! And while it sounds counterintuitive, it is something important and difficult to judge. One guy who clearly did not get it wrong was Mads Pedersen, off to a flying start.
As for us, Michael did an excellent TT on the second stage to head out of the first block of racing, already in the top 10 of the GC, which is exactly where we'd like to be. After a few sprint stages, we'll head into the mountains, where his talents really lie.
I'll try to enjoy our rest/travel day as much as possible, heading out for an easy spin, but probably skip my usual rest day gelato, considering we have only done three days of racing so far… I think I'll have to wait 'til after stage 9 for my sweet treat. Before then, though, I need to make sure my bed is free and clear of the ants, which somehow seemed to invade it while I was out during today's stage, so I can get a good night's rest before our bus/plane/bus journey back to Italy tomorrow. Pro cycling - it's not all fun and games. Wish me luck!
