Giro di Sicilia 2023, Bonifazio wins the second stage Canicattì-Vittoria- Corriere.it

In the second stage of the Tour of Sicily (Canicatt-Vittoria, the only one of the four reserved for sprinters) two almost forgotten cycling categories are back again. The Italian winner in an international race and the one that includes Niccol Bonifazio (the winner, in fact), a former blue talent whose traces had long since disappeared.

To tell the truth, I’ve won a few races in recent years, enthuses Bonifazio, thirty years old in October, who from Lampre (2013-2015) moved to Bahrain, to Trek (2016) then going down in category with Direct Energie for then spend this year in the ranks of the Belgian Intermarch returning to the World Tour.

Bonifazio beat Albanese (thanks to the bonus now second in the standings behind the New Zealand leader Fisher-Black), Quick, Fiorelli and Damiano Caruso. Confused in the group the big favorites Cavendish and Viviani, not in great shape. In his ten-year career, Bonifazio proved to be a true globe trotter of sprints. In recent seasons, between Covid and team choices, they only selected me for 40 races a year – he explains – and therefore I collect what I can because I have half the chances compared to my colleagues. His atlas of victories (21 for the record) really half a world tour: China, Croatia, Japan, Burkina Faso, Poland, Belgium, Saudi Arabia. I trust in the fact – he smiles – that the career of sprinters is getting longer and longer and therefore I can recover along the way. Where? Maybe at the next Giro d’Italia if the team decides to call me up after the Tour de Romandie which for us counts as a selection test. I can only earn trust by putting myself at the service of my teammates: life is really hard for us sprinters.