‘An indescribable emotion’ - Italian veteran Diego Ulissi seals dream to wear pink on home roads during Giro d'Italia gravel stage

There were two battles ongoing during the Giro d’Italia’s blistering stage eight through the Apennines. Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) took the stage win, but Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana) sealed his childhood dream in the autumn of his career by ripping the famous Maglia Rosa off the back of Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

The veteran Italian, eight times a Giro d’Italia stage winner, finished third from the breakaway on the 197km stage between Giulianova and Castelraimondo, but managed to overhaul his pre-stage deficit of 4:01 to take the Giro lead for the first time in his career.

For a time, it looked like Lorenzo Fortunato, Maglia Azzura wearer and Ulissi’s team-mate, would take the lead of the race. However, Fortunato slipped back to seventh on the day and Ulissi will now have the rare honour of wearing the pink jersey in his home region of Tuscany as the peloton takes on an unpredictable day over the strade bianche on stage nine.

Riding his twelfth Giro, Ulissi was understandably delighted to pull on the pink jersey and reflected what it meant to him to the media after the stage..

“It's a great feeling. It was a great joy when they told me about it. When I saw the pink jersey, just before I put it on, it reminded me of when I was a kid watching the Giro d'Italia,” Ulissi said.

“It gave me great emotions and satisfaction to win eight stages. And now, 35-36 years old, to give me this emotion, this joy, it's really something special. It's certainly a dream since I started cycling at six years old.”

A professional since 2010, Ulissi has taken 49 professional wins during his career, and moved to XDS-Astana at the start of this season. He is truly one of the names synonymous with Italian cycling over the past decade and now will get his crowning moment on the dusty Tuscan roads.

“I was already satisfied with my career,” he said. “And now I'm going to put it on, maybe just for one day, because it's really a tough stage. Riding in Tuscany with the pink jersey is an indescribable emotion.”

“With the pink jersey, you have to give your best. That's what I'll do. I'll do everything I can.”

Plapp put in a powerful attack to distance himself from the lead group containing Ulissi with 45km to go on stage eight. Ulissi chased behind the Australian alongside Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), but was unable to make inroads on the Jayco-AlUla rider.

Ulissi’s gap back to pink jersey Roglič was in the balance throughout the final 20km as the peloton accelerated over the final climbs of the stage. Ulissi did enough to take a lead of 12 seconds over Fortunato heading into the next stage, with Roglič 17 seconds back.

In what has already been a solid race for XDS-Astana, claiming the pink jersey, even just for a day, is a huge boost to a team which is fighting for WorldTour survival.

“It's super important for the team because the guys were riding very well together, following all our plans,” XDS-Astana Sport Director Dario Cataldo told TNT Sports after the stage. “They were the best in GC in the breakaway, so why not try for that as well. Luke Plapp was super strong and in the end was the strongest one in the breakaway, so we are happy with what we achieved.”

“We are super happy for him, especially because he is a professional guy. He won so many stages in the Giro so he deserves it fully.”

“For an Italian the Giro d'Italia is special, it's simply special. And for him in Tuscany is a dream for him, so it can't be better than this.”