A grande Giro comes to a close

Bauke Mollema rides to 4th in the final stage and Juan Pedro Lopez clinches Best Young Rider as Trek-Segafredo delivers a best-ever Giro d’Italia

Trek-Segafredo wrapped up three tough and glorious weeks in Italy with Bauke Mollema riding to 4th place in the final stage 17-kilometer time trial and Juan Pedro Lopez crossing the final finish line to officially clinch the white jersey for Best Young Rider and 10th place overall.

While Juanpe dropped one spot in the GC – Hugh Carthy (EF Education) rode a faster time trial to leap him in the standings – it did not take away from what he accomplished in his first Giro.

“For sure now, I don’t believe what I have just done,” said Juanpe. “When I arrive home, I will have time to think about all this, and maybe it will become real. Now I am enjoying the moment with my family, and also this night.”

JUANPEEEEEEE 🙌#Giro 🇮🇹 #GiroDItalia pic.twitter.com/R5Bh6lOv3X

— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) May 29, 2022

Grande Juanpe!

Bauke still had something left to say for the final time trial.

The 2022 Giro was the best-ever for Trek-Segafredo, topping the 2019 edition, which saw the Team hold the blue mountains jersey from start to finish and a stage win by Giulio Ciccone.

This year Juan Pedro Lopez claimed the Maglia Rosa with a second-place finish on Mount Etna in Stage 4 and held pink through Stage 14. It was unexpected and pushed the talented young Spaniard deservingly into cycling’s limelight.

“For me, the best moment was when I took the pink jersey on Etna,” said Lopez. “It’s super, super beautiful when you put on the pink jersey.”

The moment he learned he had taken pink.

The pink dream lasted 10 days.

One day after, the Team achieved one of its goals: an emotional Stage 15 win by Ciccone sealed an already fantastic race.

“I had in mind three stages we could win and we won one and two times second,” explained director Gregory Rast.”So we almost came away with the three.”

Then, to sweeten the pot even more, Juanpe assumed the lead in the Best Young Rider competition in Stage 18 – a just award for defending pink for 10 days – and protected the Maglia Bianca and his top-10 GC through the final stages.

Rast continued: “We are super satisfied. Not only that Juanpe was 10 days in the Maglia Rosa but the whole team was fighting all the time. And maybe something that the people don’t see, Edward (Theuns) had Otto (Vergaerde) and Jacopo (Mosca) to help him in the sprints and he finished two times in 6th and once in 7th so that is also something nice.

“Even when we had the pink jersey, Bauke could still go hunting for a stage. I think we are really satisfied, and of course the white jersey of Juanpe was special – of course it was lucky too because normally, Almeida is taking it but this is how it is. Juanpe was in second and took the jersey and he fought for it 3-4 days and that’s super nice.”

“I think, overall a top Giro for us.”