{"id":796822,"date":"2026-10-09T08:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T08:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796822\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T08:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T08:26:10","slug":"i-was-always-a-helper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796822\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI was always a helper\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nLongo Borghini there for the final farewell<\/p>\n

His wife was determined to be part of the occasion too, although getting there did not initially go entirely to plan. \u201cMy wife was actually stuck in traffic, so I don\u2019t know if she\u2019ll make it to the start, but I\u2019m sure she\u2019s doing her best,\u201d Mosca joked. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll see her on the road and at the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longo Borghini did make it, with the pair together after Mosca had crossed a finish line as a professional rider for the final time.<\/p>\n

\"Elisa<\/p>\n

Elisa Longo Borghini at Gran Piemonte 2026<\/p>\n

For much of their respective careers they have occupied very different spaces within the same sport. Longo Borghini has become one of the defining riders of her generation, winning some of cycling\u2019s biggest races, while Mosca increasingly found his value away from the spotlight. \u201cI was always a helper and I tried to be the best helper possible,\u201d Mosca said when discussing his retirement with Lidl-Trek<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n

That role took him through five editions of the Giro d\u2019Italia, two Vueltas a Espa\u00f1a and countless days working for teammates rather than chasing a result of his own. He retires with three professional victories, but his longevity at WorldTour level was built far more on the jobs that rarely appear on a results sheet.<\/p>\n

Gran Piemonte<\/a> was different. There was still a race number on his back and work to be done, but Mosca had allowed himself to think about what would be waiting once the racing stopped. \u201cMy family is here, my parents, my friends,\u201d he told Cycling Pro Net. \u201cI just can\u2019t wait to get to the finish line and enjoy the moment.\u201dOne final ride before moving into the car<\/p>\n

Mosca will not be disappearing from Lidl-Trek now that his racing career is over. He is set to become a sports director with the team in 2027, swapping his place in the bunch for a seat in the car.<\/p>\n

Even on the morning of his farewell, he could see the humour in how little one part of the job might actually change. \u201cI joke that in the end I\u2019ll still be chasing the bunch, just in the car,\u201d Mosca said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a little different but not too much. Same same, but different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move also gives him the chance to pass on the sort of racing knowledge that helped sustain his own career. Mosca spoke about wanting younger riders to look beyond the numbers that increasingly dominate professional cycling. \u201cI hope I can also bring something to the younger riders and remind them that it\u2019s not only about the numbers,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou need to use your head as well, and if you believe in something, you can make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longo Borghini has influenced that outlook too. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019ve also learned from Elisa,\u201d Mosca added. \u201cSo I think I\u2019ll have a lot to pass on to the others.\u201d<\/p>\n

For once, though, there was no teammate to shepherd into position and no leader whose race mattered more than his own. Gran Piemonte was Mosca\u2019s last afternoon in the bunch, and the people closest to him were waiting when it was over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Longo Borghini there for the final farewell His wife was determined to be part of the occasion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,111627,261257,136668,109119,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-796822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-elisa-longo-borghini","tag-gran-piemonte","tag-jacopo-mosca","tag-lidl-trek","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}