Guidelines prioritize cardiovascular (CV) prevention by controlling all risk factors: this is a commitment for every healthcare professional following patients with type 2 diabetes. Not doing so exposes patients to higher odds of major adverse events for CV disease, particularly when the patients are younger. The importance of maximizing risk factors at the target is not a new concept. Rawshani and colleagues demonstrated that focusing on five specific risk factors - glycated hemoglobin level, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, albuminuria, smoking, and LDL cholesterol level - over about 5.7 years reduced the risk of death and acute myocardial infarction compared to controls [1].