Modest mouse: Michael Storer underlines his Giro d’Italia threat at Tour of the Alps 🇦🇺
Australian takes a well-deserved win and shows what it truly means to let your legs do the talking
Stéphane Heulot was once asked what he learned from riding in the service of Miguel Indurain during his Banesto days, and his cutting response spoke volumes of his time alongside the Tour great, when he cutely responded ‘Spanish’.
By the time he was served that question during the Tour de France in 1996, Heulot had left those rocky times behind him and was wearing the maillot jaune for Roger Legeay’s GAN team. Resplendent in yellow, he personified how much a rider could achieve in the right environment.
Fast forward almost 30 years, and there are parallels between Michael Storer and the now Lotto boss after the Australian spent two restless years at Groupama–FDJ before finding his feet with Tudor Pro Cycling.
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old from Perth delivered his second win of the season, a stage at the Tour of the Alps after he dropped his rivals 11km from the finish before taking the win and the leader’s jersey in the centre of Mezzolombardo.
His maiden victory of the season on stage 7 of Paris-Nice was impressive enough, but Tuesday’s triumph was brought about by a combination of cunning and capacity as he powered clear on the final climb before pressing home his advantage. After two stages, the Australian has a 41-second advantage over his nearest rivals and, barring accident or complete capitulation, he looks on course to win his final GC test before the Giro d’Italia.
Storer raced at Marc Madiot’s team from 2022 to 2023, yet since leaving Groupama-FDJ behind and joining Tudor at the start of 2024, he has appeared as a rider reborn, reminding everyone of the class he showed as a highly talented junior and again during those halcyon days of the 2021 Vuelta a España, when he won two stages and claimed the mountain jersey.
Ahead of next month’s Giro, the Australian seems willing and able to improve on his tenth place on GC from last year, and who knows, perhaps even push into the top five or higher.
“He’s a machine,” his teammate Larry Warbasse told us at the finish after congratulating Storer.