Michael Valgren narrowly misses out on Giro stage victory: “I actually didn’t want to attack”

Michael Valgren almost put an end to a difficult period due to injuries in Lucca. The Dane from EF Education-EasyPost was in the right leading group, which made it to the finish, but just missed out on the stage win in the fifth stage. “I wanted to increase the pressure in the sprint, but Benjamin Thomas is also very good,” Valgren said to the press afterwards.

After the early breakaway was caught on the Passo del Bracco, Valgren only escaped after the first intermediate sprint. He did this together with Benjamin Thomas, Enzo Paleni and Andrea Pietrobon. “I heard along the way that a few guests wanted to escape after the intermediate sprint. But I fell on my knee yesterday, so I didn’t want to attack at first,” Valgren laughs.

“In the end we drove away with four men, or actually three and a half, because that boy from Polti-Kometa did some short turns. But we worked well together with those other two strong guys. That’s why we made it to the finish line. And Benjamin is very strong. That is a shame for me, but I am happy to be competing for victory again,” said the Dane.

In the final, the leading group had a tailwind and the route was in a slightly descending line. That helped in the battle against the peloton. “With 3 or 4 kilometers to go you know it can happen. They can make up 10 seconds per kilometer, but the final was in our favor. Therefore chapeau for our cooperation up front, that we didn’t play games. Pietrobon’s attack made it difficult, because I had to do a long sprint.”

After a serious fall in the summer of 2022, Valgren had to recuperate for months and took a long time to make his comeback in the WorldTour. Now he is back at the highest level: “It’s the Giro, so this means a lot to me. The team has helped me very well and I would like to repay that. I am grateful that I am still a cyclist and I would like to thank everyone for that.”