{"id":261092,"date":"2025-11-04T03:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/261092\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T03:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:24:13","slug":"i-could-ride-in-support-of-our-captain-at-the-giro-but-id-also-like-to-chase-a-stage-win-italian-national-champion-sets-clear-goals-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/261092\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI could ride in support of our captain at the Giro, but I’d also like to chase a stage win\u201d \u2014 Italian national champion sets clear goals for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025 was an unforgettable season for Filippo Conca<\/a> with no doubt. His victory in the Italian National Championships, achieved with the amateur Swatt Club, surprised many and opened the door back to the WorldTour, where he is now riding for Team Jayco AlUla<\/a>.The 27-year-old already made it to the World Tour back in 2021, when he secured a contract with Lotto Soudal. After two years, he went a step down to the ProTeam category, signing for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team<\/a>. His contract was not renewed for the 2025 season, so he was forced to temporarily abandon the professional category, signing for the modest Swatt Club. That situation only lasted a few months however, as Jayco AlUla signed him in August.<\/p>\n


\nIn an interview he gave to tuttobiciweb<\/a> at the Tour de France EFGH Singapore Criterium<\/a>, Conca acknowledged that the challenge ahead is as much mental as physical. Looking back at the latter part of his 2025 season, Conca recalled both satisfaction and frustration after riding 12 days with his new team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Jayco I felt very good; the atmosphere is really nice,\u201d he said. \u201cI would have liked to show something right away and start strong, but after catching Covid following my second race, I couldn\u2019t be as competitive as usual or reach my normal level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the setback, the 27-year-old still managed to prove his reliability. \u201cEven so, I was able to be useful, working at the Tour of Slovakia, where I pulled a lot at the front to keep my teammates ahead and we won the general classification with [Paul] Double. I also helped in other races to position our leaders as best as possible. It\u2019s a pity I couldn\u2019t do more, because it was a good opportunity to start this adventure in the best way and maybe ride for myself sometimes. But I have time next year to make up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health and continuity, he emphasized, remain his key priorities. \u201cThe most important thing in 2026 will be to work consistently without those setbacks and health problems that have plagued my career so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

His plans for the upcoming season<\/p>\n

Conca also outlined his preliminary race program for 2026, which will begin with early-season races in Spain. \u201cI should start in Spain, although we haven\u2019t yet defined exactly where, and try to have good form right away to perform well in the first part of the season until the end of March,\u201d he explained. \u201cThen, since I suffer from allergies and asthma later in the spring, the idea is to take a short break and train at altitude to arrive at 100 percent for the Giro d\u2019Italia.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Giro, Conca hopes he will have freedom to fight for a stage win, although he knows his main task will be to support his leader. \u201cI could ride in support of our captain\u00a0\u2014 I don\u2019t know yet if it will be O\u2019Connor or someone else\u00a0\u2014 but I\u2019d also like to chase a stage win if the opportunity arises.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 was an unforgettable season for Filippo Conca with no doubt. His victory in the Italian National Championships,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-261092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}