Diego Ulissi will start his seventeenth season in professional peloton in 2026. The only two-time junior world champion (in this millenium) can already look back at overly successful cycling career, but the 36-year-old rider is not yet planning to hang up his bicycle. Although his contract at XDS Astana Team will run out at the end of next year, the final decision will be based on Ulissi’s gut feeling over the season.
For now, Ulissi had the opportunity to celebrate Astana’s successful year alongside teammates Christian Scaroni and Simone Velasco at the award ceremony Coppa Italia delle Regioni. The ranking was dominated by the riders of Kazakh WorldTour team with Ulissi rounding off the podium. “It’s nice to meet up at the end of the year to celebrate a great year,” said Ulissi at the gala.
Although Ulissi was often outshined by his younger colleagues in 2025, he still managed to raise hands once at the Giro dell’Appennino. “The victory at the Appennino came, but I was then fortunate to compete in various Italian races belonging to the Cup, which allowed me to score a lot of points.”
That’s one less victory than the previous year, but his contribution to team success (mainly Scaroni’s) shouldn’t be overlooked. And through consistency, Ulissi still scored nearly a 1.000 UCI points on what was a “mediocre year”.
2025 was the most special year in Ulissi’s careerThe 2025 had one massive highlight for Ulissi. Although he has won 8 Giro d’Italia stages scattered across the past decade, he never enjoyed the ceremony of being handed the Maglia Rosa at the end of a stage. That was until, symbolically, eighth stage when Ulissi joined the breakaway and although he only finished 3rd on the day, the peloton crossed the line with enough margin to let Ulissi slip into the race’s overall lead. Even if it was for just one day.
The 36-year-old veteran is immediately starstruck like a little kid when he recalls that evening: “It was a special day, something I’d been looking for in past years and it came unexpectedly this year, so I’m really happy. I was moved for the first time in my career when I saw the Maglia Rosa. It takes you back to when you were a child, seeing it and dreaming about it.”
Diego Ulissi’s big moment in the pink jersey
The Tuscan rider is now looking ahead to 2026 when the national circuit races could once again offer an interesting objective for the Italian as well as the entire team of XDS Astana: “I definitely want to do well. I’ll be planning a calendar where I’ll compete in many Italian Cup races, so who knows, maybe it could become a goal.”
It’s been a long and successful career, but the races are becoming faster and faster. The thoughts of retiring and letting the younger guns take over the reins are certainly in the back of Ulissi’s mind, he reveals: “A final season? Let’s see. Let’s just say I don’t set any limits for myself. I want to see how I feel physically and mentally, and then I’ll make a decision during the year.”