{"id":60577,"date":"2026-05-05T20:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/60577\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T20:26:14","slug":"nick-zukowsky-heads-back-to-the-giro-ditalia-with-unfinished-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/60577\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Zukowsky heads back to the Giro d\u2019Italia with \u2018unfinished business\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que.\u2019s Nick Zukowsky is heading back to the Giro d\u2019Italia with Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, and there\u2019s no hiding that he is super stoked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel quite excited to be honest with you to head back,\u201d he said, reflecting on a return to the race that ended early for him last year. \u201cI feel like I have unfinished business after last year with how it went. So that was, yeah, not so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Giro<\/p>\n

That first Grand Tour appearance was cut short by a crash, a memory Zukowsky hasn\u2019t forgotten as he lines up again for the three-week race that begins Friday, May 8, with an opening stage in Bulgaria. He did end up racing La Vuelta Ciclista a Espa\u00f1a in 2025, helping team leader finish third overall.<\/p>\n

As far as the Giro<\/a>, the former national champ is approaching it with a sense of calm rather than pressure.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m quite relaxed actually,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a really good block of training at home after the classics, so I\u2019m feeling really good, ready and in good shape for the upcoming Grand Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giro route, stacked with varied terrain and constant transition between sprint days, breakaway opportunities and high mountains, suits the team\u2019s aggressive outlook. That\u2019s where Zukowsky sees his role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really open race in terms of opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of stages just for breakaways. That\u2019s where I\u2019ll be hoping to make my mark personally. Race aggressive and target a few stages where there\u2019s a really good shot for breakaways to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pinarello Q36.5 also brings sprint cards and GC depth, but without a single protected leader for the overall classification.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a really good card for the sprints with Matteo Moschetti, so he\u2019ll be our guy for the fast finishes,\u201d Zukowsky said. \u201cAnd then in terms of GC, we\u2019ll just have to see what happens. We don\u2019t really have a five-star rider for GC, but still some really good depth with Chris Harper and David de la Cruz\u2014proven riders with a lot of experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

That balance, he believes, suits the way the team wants to race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just going to be a really open and aggressive race from us,\u201d he said. \u201cTry and make the most of it every day, be smart and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

On racing (and eating) in Italy<\/p>\n

For Zukowsky, the return is also personal. Italy, the racing, the atmosphere\u2014he\u2019s leaning into all of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love racing in Italy. The food is good, the people, the atmosphere\u2026 it\u2019s a race with so much history,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been watching videos on YouTube about the race and its history. There\u2019s a lot more to it than I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message heading into Friday is simple enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust happy to be back, and can\u2019t wait to get the show on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zuke isn\u2019t the only Canuck racing La Corsa Rosa. National champ Derek Gee-West<\/a>, of Osgoode, Ont. is there and the GC is one of his major goals. Last year he just missed the podium, finishing in fourth.<\/p>\n

For 2026, he\u2019s back with his new team, Lidl-Trek and big ambitions.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Giro begins on Friday and spends the first few days in Bulgaria before heading to Italy. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have reports and more daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que.\u2019s Nick Zukowsky is heading back to the Giro d\u2019Italia with Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33502,23804,10677,936,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-60577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-2026-giro-ditalia","9":"tag-derek-gee-west","10":"tag-nickolas-zukowsky","11":"tag-spotlight","12":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116523852376182830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}