The last Italian to win a stage of the Great Boucle was the Sicilian champion. Then nothing, until Jonathan’s success. And here’s how, in these six, very long seasons, champions, bikes, races, talent, choices and technology have changed
As we were. You don’t need to be nostalgic to find out. The world goes fast, cycling more. From Vincenzo Nibali’s last victory to Tour de France in 2019 in Val Thorens. At the last success of Jonathan Milan, today, 2025, in Laval. A thread six years long. Milan, who has 24, smile sghembo, air from gringo, promises new flashes: “Tomorrow I’ll try again tomorrow. But this is certainly a victory that means a lot for me and after this very long fast also for Italy”. That of Friulian is a return to the future. Because perhaps Italian cycling also has its future. We will see. Meanwhile, these six, very long seasons are a mirror of how we changed us, them (the champions), the bikes, the races, the talent, the choices, the technology. So strength, Rewind. Six years ago Egan Bernal became the first South American (the first Colombian) to win the great Boucle. He cried on the podium in Paris (certain things never change), he had a hematic face, his eyes consumed, the heart that beat strongly. “I’m a little Italian, I lived there.” In Italy he arrived with Gianni Savio, the Piedmontese gentleman, a great connoisseur of South American cycling, who put him under contract for his team, the androni toys-wintermec. Savio is no longer there, he left last December.