Giacomo Gariboldi reflects on a dream start to the season, in our exclusive interview, as HRC Honda’s new powerhouse duo of Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle delivered a stunning 1–2 finish at the opening Grand Prix.
Offering insight into both riders, Gariboldi reveals the surprising character behind Herlings’ intensity and the calm, clinical mindset that makes Vialle such a formidable competitor
Giacomo Gariboldi on working with Jeffrey Herlings:
“It was something we didn’t expect. When you see him from the outside, he looks like a completely different person. But when you get to know him day by day, working closely together, you discover a different side of him—not in terms of riding, of course, but in how he behaves.
“He’s very kind, a really sweet guy, and he gives excellent feedback to our engineers and mechanics. That’s extremely important for the team. So overall, he’s been a very positive presence in every aspect.”
On working with Tom Vialle:
“Tom is a four-time champion—twice in Europe and twice in America—so naturally you expect him to be at the front. But we didn’t know exactly if he’d immediately be a top-three or top-five rider. Usually, in the first season, a rider is still learning how everything works, and then becomes stronger in the second year, ready to fight for the title.
However, this winter we saw he was as fast as Jeffrey, so we were hopeful he could match that level. It was still a bit of a surprise to see him win the first race of the season—but we knew he had the potential. He’s a great starter, very consistent, and has a unique technique. So maybe it wasn’t a surprise for us internally, but more so for the public. He stays incredibly calm—almost cold—and doesn’t get emotional or make mistakes. We saw that again in the first round, even with Jeffrey right behind him.
He doesn’t get stressed or emotional under pressure. And we saw that again at the first round even when Jeffrey was behind him. He just doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, Tom is always very focused on himself. I said to him after the qualifying race in Argentina, it looks like you didn’t mind about Coenen pushing behind you, and he said to me, ‘I was just focusing on my race and I didn’t even mind him behind me.’ And I think Lucas was pushing really hard to try to get to him. But he was riding so well, so fast.
“We’ve seen already with Deegan last year, two years ago in the States, he never got the pressure for him. And Deegan was trying to put the pressure on him. He’s very cold. He’s very focused. He’s a very professional guy.
“If you had told me back in January that we’d have both Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle on the team—and that they’d go 1–2 in the opening GP—I wouldn’t have believed you. That’s really a dream. Nobody expected to have both riders, and then to start the season like that. It’s a dream start.”
Watch the full interview below:
And get Herlings view of his switch to Honda and working with Giacomo below:
