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Berwick found his way into the big break of the day on stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia, a 30-rider strong group that also had teammate Marco Frigo present.
The peloton were keen for the day to be a quiet one ahead of the first big mountain test tomorrow, and without a dangerous rider for general classification purposes in the move, it quickly became clear that the breakaway contained the day’s winner.
The decisive move came in an odd fashion, Trek-Segafredo had numbers in the move, and used them to create a split through a roundabout, allowing their man Tom Skuijns to get free, with Berwick, Nico Denz (BORA-hansgrohe), Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan) and Alessandro Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) all working well with the Latvian to drive their advantage out.
Battistella was physically sick and dropped off, and it was the impressive pacemaking of Berwick on the main climb of the day that put the pressure on. However, it was an attack from Skuijns on the late category-2 climb of Colle Braida that saw Tonelli dropped, leaving the final three to fight it out for the win.
An attack from Denz with 12 kilometres left put Skuijns and Berwick in difficulty, with first Skuijns then eventually Berwick recovering their German rival. Berwick sat on from that point, saying at one point when Denz looked back to see if the Australian would do a turn, “I’m not doing sh*t”.
At times in professional cycling, it can be considered poor form to sit on the back of a move and not contribute, but that stigma is lessened when a rider has just been dropped or when it's their only path to victory against a superior rival. In Berwick's case, as pocket-sized climber, he doesn't pack much horsepower for a sprint on the flat, and his best chance was to look for an opportunity to jump away and win solo.
It came down to the sprint in Rivoli in the end, Berwick initiated the final dash to the line, but didn’t have the raw power to keep up with his bigger breakaway rivals, with Denz taking a maiden Grand Tour stage win.
"That last climb was my last opportunity I guess but in the end, they were strong enough to stay with me”, Berwick explained after the line. “I didn’t have much in the sprint obviously. 58kg vs 75kg, it’s a bit hard to win but I kept fighting, it’s a Giro stage and I was in the hunt for the win so you never know what happens. Steven Bradbury and all that.”
It’s hard to say actually how much explanation was required for the Bradbury reference, but Israel Premier Tech did get up a GIF of Steven Bradbury’s famous first Winter Olympics gold medal moment, the Aussie making his unique mark on the Giro d’Italia in a number of ways.
Berwick announced himself with his deeds and colourful words on the Australian cycling scene in 2020 as a 20-year-old with a great ride to finish second overall behind Jai Hindley at the Herald Sun Tour, saying at the time that he was looking for a World Tour ride.
"Hopefully, people see this and go ‘shit, this guy is all right at riding bikes’,” said Berwick at the time. "I don’t want to go be in a job for the rest of my life that I don’t really like. I just want to give it my all and see if it can get me somewhere. If not, then I’ve tried.”
Berwick got his opportunity with Israel Premier Tech, and though he was thrown in the deep end at the Vuelta a Espana in 2021, 2022 showed a good progression in results, with a stage win at the 2.2-rated Alpes Isere Tour the standout performance. That showing was recently franked by 2nd-placed Yannis Voisard, second behind Berwick that day, who came out and won a summit finish at the Tour de Hongrie ahead of plenty of World Tour professionals.
Berwick comes from good cycling stock, with his father and grandfather both cyclists.
“(They've) always ridden, won some Australian titles,” Berwick said. “My grandfather – back when it was a handicap – was fastest time at Grafton to Inverell a couple of times, so I was always into cycling.”
Continuing the family tradition, Berwick is making significant strides in his career, and looks set to add to the family trophy cabinet.
The Giro d'Italia continues with the first big mountain test for the peloton, the 199-kilometre stage to Crans-Montana to journey into Switzerland. Watch first on SBS On Demand from 6.50pm AEST, with the SBS VICELAND beginning at 8.30pm AEST.
