[2] Born in Trento, Moser comes from a family of professional cyclists; his uncles Francesco and Aldo both finished in the top five overall placings of Grand Tour events, with Francesco winning the Giro d'Italia in 1984, and another uncle, Enzo, also wore the leader's jersey in the Giro.

[4] Having competed for U.S. Montecorona as a junior and Arvedi Lucchini Unidelta as an amateur, Moser joined professional team Liquigas–Cannondale in the second half of 2011 as a stagiaire.

[8][9] He repeated that feat at May's Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop, attacking out of a four-man lead group within the race's final kilometre.

[14] Moser stayed out of trouble on the final stage, and won the race overall by five seconds, ahead of Kwiatkowski.

[17] The following weekend, Moser then took victory at Strade Bianche in Siena, accelerating away from the peloton with around 17 km (11 mi) remaining in pursuit of a four-rider breakaway.