At the Tour of Oman, Luca Giaimi was one of the youngest riders in the group, but despite this, he never held back. Just turned twenty and with many dreams in his heart, for the second consecutive year he pedals for the development division of UAE Team Emirates and gains experience preparing for the big leap among the professionals. As happened last year, the Ligurian athlete had the opportunity to compete with professional athletes and in Oman he worked hard throughout the six-day race, contributing to Adam Yates' final victory.

"In the development team, I truly feel at home, it's a great environment to grow and also compare myself with more experienced riders. In Oman, I had a unique opportunity, I tried to take everything I could and make the most of every moment, every piece of advice. It's not every day that you're in a group with athletes of a certain caliber like Majka, who has great experience, who is a real point of reference for me, or Yates, who is a champion. In situations like these, you can only put yourself at the team's disposal and try to learn as much as possible," Luca explains, who took advantage of the Omani experience to gather advice and precious experiences. During the days in Arabia, we saw him working in the group multiple times, and particularly in the last stage, he was among the protagonists of the day's breakaway, confirming his excellent form and desire to prove himself.

The first season with UAE Team Emirates Gen Z was not simple, as he had his final year of school to complete, and it was a real challenge to coordinate everything. Yet, in just one season, much has changed in the preparation of the very young Ligurian. "Last year, when I first joined the team, it was a bit difficult. I was still in school, and then there was the language barrier with English, which I didn't speak very well. The staff helped me a lot; being partly Italian, I immediately felt at home and started working to improve. I had to adjust several things like my bike position, my weight, but the biggest change was definitely the training load, which naturally increased. During the winter training camp, we had the opportunity to train and compare ourselves with the main team riders, and I believe this was extremely helpful. It gave us the push to improve and also to understand what we can become. The road is still long, and I believe that racing in competitions like Oman is a huge gift that we must carefully exploit to the fullest," Giaimi tells us, emphasizing the importance of growing and never holding back. In his young career, he has worn the blue jersey many times, and especially on the track, he has achieved titles and records already in the Junior category. Doing everything is practically impossible and requires choices and sacrifices, but the goal is to never give up on the velodrome discipline that made him the athlete he is.

Luca dreams of professionalism and becoming a classics rider; he has already tasted the thrill of racing with authentic champions, showing he is ready to take the big step. "I'm very satisfied with my season start between Tour of Sharjah and Oman. I feel I have good legs and believe I trained best during the winter. I'm working hard especially to improve my climbing endurance, without losing my main characteristics like my quick burst. In the first stage in Oman, I tried to launch myself in the sprint, made the top ten, and had fun; it was a good test that I can still improve on. The dream is to improve further in time trials and try to become a classics rider, maybe specifically the northern classics. For now, I'm trying to give my best in under-23 races, then who knows... There's also always the track that I absolutely don't want to set aside. Unfortunately, due to a conflict, I had to give up the Europeans, but in the summer there will be the under-23 championships, and I want to prepare for them as well as the Giro Next Gen," adds Giaimi, who will now be engaged in under-23 races. The experience among the pros is something you carry in your heart, a starting point and a push to improve more and more. Luca is still young, knows he has much to learn, yet the leap to the top category is just around the corner...