{"id":251572,"date":"2025-10-30T19:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/251572\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T19:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:44:10","slug":"italian-pro-retires-after-long-career-issues-dire-warning-for-the-peloton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/251572\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian pro retires after long career: Issues dire warning for the peloton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pro cycling is damn tough. Salvatore Puccio has spent his career helping others cross the line first. On his 36th birthday, the Sicilian rider announced he would retire after 14 years with Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers \u2014 a decision he made on his own terms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI decided it was time to put a full stop,\u201d Puccio said to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tuttobiciweb.it\/article\/2025\/10\/28\/1761640661\/ciclismo-ritiro-gregario-ineos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tuttobici<\/a>. \u201cAfter so many years, I felt the need to say enough. Training brings some nostalgia, but during races I feel the fatigue \u2014 I know I made the right choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since turning professional in 2011, Puccio has worn the same team jersey, aside from Italy\u2019s national kitwith Elia Viviani when they won the European championship in 2019. The dude is legit. Over 17 Grand Tours and 29 Classics, he became a trusted teammate for riders including Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal, Filippo Ganna, and others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWearing the pink jersey at my first Giro d\u2019Italia was a wonderful surprise,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery victory my teammates achieved felt like mine. For a domestique, if the captain doesn\u2019t win, your work means nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Puccio is, well\u2026candid about the dangers of <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/chris-froome-airlifted-after-serious-crash\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">modern<\/a> racing. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely dangerous and exhausting,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re some of the few still able to brake. If you slow down even for a moment, you can drop 40 places instantly. The crashes you see on TV are only a fraction of what really happens. In the peloton it\u2019s constant: shoving, levers brushing \u2014 from the first km. On a recent descent I hit 84 km\/h and I was genuinely scared. It\u2019s only going to get faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After his final races in Italy, including the Giro dell\u2019Emilia, Tre Valli Varesine, and Il Lombardia, Puccio plans to pursue a career as a directeur sportif. \u201cI\u2019d like to stay in the team car, perhaps with another squad. Matteo Tosatto inspired me with energy and motivation, Dario Cioni with calm \u2014 I hope to be a mix of both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he has any regrets, Puccio was pretty clear. \u201cNone. I\u2019m happy with my career. I\u2019d do it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro cycling is damn tough. Salvatore Puccio has spent his career helping others cross the line first. On&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-251572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}