Andrea Bagioli targets Spring Classics success before Giro d'Italia debut

Andrea Bagioli was one of the late revelations of the season, with a fine win in Gran Piemonte, second in Il Lombardia, and third at Coppa Bernocchi, and the Italian is aiming to make another step forward in 2024 with his move to Lidl-Trek.

The 24-year-old signed for the American team after a four-year stint at Patrick Lefevere’s Soudal Quick-Step to start his career. Despite an option to stay with the Belgian squad, the Italian opted for a new home, and new opportunities.

"I spoke to the team boss Luca Guercilena and the team explained the programme to me. They told me about the leaders for the next years, and there’s a lot of Italian here in terms of staff and riders. That could make it easier for me to settle and it’s a a big project with Lidl coming on board this season,” Bagioli told GCN at Lidl-Trek’s recent training camp in Calpe, Spain.

“I did speak with Patrick. It was around Liège time and there was an option to stay but after four years you want to discover new things and have a change. Four years in the same team, you do the same things, and the same camps, so it felt like a change would be good for me.”

• Read more: Pro cycling transfers – Every move for the 2024 season

Bagioli’s 2023 season may have peaked in October but there was more to it than just a late flourish, with two wins and a rack of top-10s dotted throughout the year. That final week in Italy, though, was a major highlight and Bagioli is keen to maintain that momentum heading into the new year.

“The last weeks of the season were just incredible and I really wasn’t expecting to be in the front, especially in Lombardia with guys like Roglič, Yates and Vlasov. It was amazing and I hope that’s how I start the next season. The motivation for 2024 is already there.”

Bagioli’s 2024 season will start relatively late, with his Lidl-Trek debut coming in February at the Volta ao Algarve alongside Tao Geoghegan Hart. From there, the Italian will concentrate on a short block of racing in his home country before a trip to Spain and then the Ardennes and the Giro d’Italia come into focus.

“I’ll start in Algarve, so it’s a late start. Then I’ll go to Italy for Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, and Milan-San Remo. Then it’s Basque Country, Amstel, Flèche [Wallonne] and Liège. Then it’s the Giro, which I’ll be doing for the first time in my career,” he told GCN.

Those initial outings will be key for Bagioli as he establishes himself within his new team, and there will almost certainly be leadership opportunities as soon as he pulls on his new team kit. After his results this autumn, though, that’s hardly surprising.

“I hope to have a leadership role in some of those early races, and in Amstel and Flèche. I was sixth in Amstel this year and those sort of races are perfect for me. So I will be one of the leaders.

"For the Giro, the aim will be to try and win a stage because I’m not really ready for the GC at this moment."