{"id":902627,"date":"2026-09-23T15:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902627\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T15:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:00:17","slug":"italy-has-a-3-5-to-1-chance-of-a-world-championship-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902627\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy has a 3.5-to-1 chance of a World Championship upset"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a World Championship where Tadej Poga\u010dar is absent, the conversation revolves almost entirely around five ‘big names’ who can win the rainbow bands. But one country remains somewhat under the radar. That\u2019s not surprising, since Italy hasn\u2019t been in contention for World Championship gold since Alessandro Ballan won those rainbow bands in 2008. Perhaps the race on September 27 will put cycling-crazy Italy back on the map in Montreal.<\/p>\n

In Italy, the question in recent years has invariably been: Who will succeed Vincenzo Nibali<\/a> as the stage racer of the future? For a brief moment, it seemed Fabio Aru might follow in his footsteps, but when the climber was forced to retire early due to a physical setback, the position became vacant. Italy saw one time trialist and sprinter after another break through, but a general classification contender and truly great climber was nowhere to be found.Fallow years for Italy in the Grand Tour stakes<\/p>\n

Recent years have been dominated by Tadej Poga\u010dar, Jonas Vingegaard, and their teams, UAE Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike. Because of this, Italy wasn\u2019t held too strictly accountable for a few lackluster years in the Grand Tours and at the World Championships. Now, however, with Poga\u010dar suddenly out of the picture and Vingegaard also sitting out the World Championships, the Azzurri can suddenly count on at least a 3.5-to-1 chance of winning the world title.<\/p>\n

It would be a fitting scenario, a little more than ten years after Vincenzo Nibali was all but certain to win gold at the Rio Olympics before crashing out on a descent. After that, only Matteo Trentin came close to a gold medal, but he finished second at the 2019 World Championships, behind Mads Pedersen. Now, suddenly, there are plenty of riders who are dreaming of those rainbow bands.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the video<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Giulio Ciccone (31) – Lidl-TrekOn paper, Giulio Ciccone<\/a> is Italy\u2019s team leader, and based on his performance over the past few years, he has earned that status. Throughout his career, the climber was long known as a stage hunter and puncheur competing for podium spots, but in recent years he has developed into a consistent force in stage races and major one-day classics with Lidl-Trek.Now that Ciccone is being specifically linked to a move to Pinarello-Q36.5<\/a>, a world title for the ever-eager rider cannot be ruled out. Ciccone won a lot more last year, including the Cl\u00e1sica de San Sebasti\u00e1n, but he\u2019s also been a consistent contender in 2026. After winning the mountains classification at the Giro d\u2019Italia, he set his sights entirely on the World Championships.He skipped the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and worked his way into top form via a Spanish race schedule. Although he fell ill during the Tour of Germany, his second-place finish in the GP Qu\u00e9bec<\/a> and seventh-place finish in the GP Montr\u00e9al showed that he has reason to dream. Just try to shake Ciccone off on those short, punchy climbs. After finishing sixth in Rwanda, he can aim for the highest possible finish at a World Championships without Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

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Giulio Ciccone will lead the Italian team in Montr\u00e9al<\/p>\n

Giulio Pellizzari (22) – Red Bull-BORA-hansgroheAlongside Ciccone, Giulio Pellizzari<\/a> was presented by the Italian Cycling Federation as a co-team leader for the World Championships. And there\u2019s certainly a case to be made for that, as the 22-year-old Italian has made the World Championships and the Italian fall season his main goals. After a disappointing Giro d\u2019Italia marred by illness, he finished second in the Tour of Slovenia and won stages in Burgos and Germany.<\/p>\n

After winning the Giro della Toscana, Pellizzari retreated to his own familiar surroundings in San Marino, where he completed a few more intense training blocks. Like Ciccone, Pellizzari has shown that, behind Poga\u010dar and Vingegaard, he can actually keep up with the very best on a good day. Consider, for example, his sixth-place finishes in the Giro d\u2019Italia and the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a in 2026.<\/p>\n

His friend Isaac del Toro has made a bigger impression so far, but with several team leaders in the mix, Pellizzari could be a very dangerous contender if he\u2019s still in the running in the final. He\u2019ll likely be willing to attempt an uphill sprint as well, though the same goes for Ciccone. It\u2019s no coincidence that these two, in particular, are being positioned as leaders in the hunt for a world title.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

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Giulio Pellizzari<\/p>\n

Davide Piganzoli (24) – Visma | Lease a BikeFor a long time, Davide Piganzoli<\/a> seemed to be the weakest of the three riders from San Marino, but following the breakthroughs of Del Toro and Pellizzari, Piganzoli\u2019s star has also been rising rapidly since his move to Visma | Lease a Bike in 2026. The 24-year-old climber had always been a strong climber at Polti-VisitMalta, but at the Visma team, he was transformed into a very modern rider in no time.He made an impression in the Giro d’Italia by finishing eighth himself while riding as a domestique for Vingegaard; in the Tour de France, he rode exceptionally well in the final week; and in between all those Grand Tours, he first won La Route d’Occitanie<\/a> in June and, more recently, the Tour of Luxembourg<\/a>. In particular, the way he left everyone in the dust on the climbs in Luxembourg served as a warning to all his World Championship rivals.<\/p>\n

On paper, Piganzoli wouldn\u2019t be Italy\u2019s team leader, but with his miraculous legs, he\u2019s certainly emerging as a third contender for a surprise rainbow jersey. It might still be a little too early, but if Luxembourg has shown us anything, it\u2019s that you should never let him get too far ahead. In that regard, Ciccone and Pellizzari serve as excellent distractions.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n

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Davide Piganzoli<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Finn (19) – Red Bull-BORA-hansgroheThe reigning world champion in the U23 category could easily have competed in the U23 division, but Lorenzo Finn<\/a> decided to approach the national team coach with the question: \u201cCan I compete with the elite men?\u201d Roberto Amadio must not have hesitated, because good things happen quickly. And in Finn\u2019s case, very quickly indeed.<\/p>\n

In 2026, the very young Italian was still riding for Red Bull\u2019s development team, where he won the Giro NextGen. In races he competed in with the WorldTour team, he already made an impression at events such as the Tour of the Alps. He also finished sixth in the Italian elite time trial championship. That was followed by two stage wins and the overall title at the Sibiu Tour.<\/p>\n

After Finn also won the Tour de l’Avenir, thereby adding every major U23 race to his list of achievements, the World Championships came into view. There, he rides in support of his two or three team leaders, but the Italians\u2019 \u201cluxury problem\u201d is perfectly reflected in Finn\u2019s role as a domestique. A sort of \u201chalf-leader\u201d? He\u2019s probably still willing to put himself second, perhaps for the very last time…<\/p>\n

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Among other achievements, Lorenzo Finn won the Giro NextGen in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At a World Championship where Tadej Poga\u010dar is absent, the conversation revolves almost entirely around five ‘big names’…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,16656,165034,63567,173160,198122,85,179188],"class_list":["post-902627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-world-championships","tag-davide-piganzoli","tag-giulio-ciccone","tag-giulio-pellizzari","tag-lorenzo-finn","tag-sports","tag-vincenzo-nibali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902627","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=902627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}