Carlos Verona back in Italy: His Giro d'Italia memories and La Vuelta ambitions

Carlos Verona will be part, starting Saturday, August 23, of the most Italian start of La Vuelta a España. The now experienced talent from San Lorenzo de El Escorial – based in Andorra for a decade – is one of the eight riders that Lidl-Trek will line up in his ‘home’ Grand Tour, after having shone brightly in the 2025 Giro d’Italia, with a stage win in Asiago that he will remember forever.

“It leaves me above all with happiness and a good memory,” says the rider from Madrid, almost in the process of packing his suitcase to travel to Piemonte, almost three months after his first success in a Grand Tour. “For me it was a very special day, when a series of unusual circumstances came together. In the end, unfortunately losing our GC leader, Giulio Ciccone, the day before; being in great form, as I was to support him; having my mind in the mood of channeling that frustration… Everything came together for me to be able to fight and take that stage victory.”

Father of three and a proud husband, he was fortunate on that Stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia to experience success with his family watching on site. “For me it’s a day I will always remember: enjoying that satisfaction with the people I love most, with my team and my family… It will be one of those days that, when I retire, will remain right at the top and deep inside.”

Verona doesn’t lose perspective, in any case: “It gives me joy and satisfaction, although that doesn’t reflect my sporting career.” Also a stage winner in the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné, Carlos is a rider who, throughout his 15-year career, has always built his effort and work on selfless dedication to his leaders. Present four times at the Corsa Rosa, he has accumulated as many as sixteen Grand Tours with only one DNF and several close calls – twice 3rd in Tour stages and 2nd in one stage of the 2021 La Vuelta, the one in which he eventually abandoned. In Asiago, he finally hit the target.

And now, what’s next? Verona faces La Vuelta with the same spirit as the Giro d’Italia. “At Lidl-Trek, with strong leaders and a group of people with clear ideas, helping each other, I look at how the Giro turned out. Winning the opening stage with Mads Pedersen created a great atmosphere, with excellent results; the breakthrough of Mathias Vacek, another great rider; and Giulio Ciccone, who has shown again in San Sebastián what he is capable of. I have no doubt he can be an alternative to UAE or Visma, against whom we will be fighting for the race. Winning again the first stage with Mads? It will be tough, since it’s a less demanding sprint than in Albania, but if there’s something Mads can do, it’s to reinvent himself.”