{"id":567390,"date":"2026-05-05T12:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/567390\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T12:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:48:18","slug":"adoring-italian-fans-turning-off-social-media-and-playing-fifa-on-mount-teide-getting-to-know-giulio-pellizzari-the-giro-ditalias-home-star-ready-to-challenge-jonas-vingegaard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/567390\/","title":{"rendered":"Adoring Italian fans, turning off social media, and playing FIFA on Mount Teide \u2013 Getting to know Giulio Pellizzari, the Giro d’Italia’s home star ready to challenge Jonas Vingegaard"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Cyclingnews sits with Giulio Pellizzari<\/a> in the sunshine outside Red Bull\u2019s Innsbruck hotel on the eve of the Tour of the Alps, a group of children – autograph hunters – come back three times during our interview. \u201cI am a big fan,\u201d one assures him. Five minutes later, another gives him a drawing of a yellow flower with ‘danke sch\u00f6n’ written beneath it.<\/p>\n

Everyone seems to love Italy\u2019s cycling champion-in-waiting. The race ends as it started, with young fans clamouring for mementos from the 22-year-old. \u201cGiulio! Giulio! Giulio, per favore!\u201d The cries echo beneath one of Trento\u2019s churches as the race leader prepares to take on the Tour of the Alps\u2019 fifth and final stage.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He signs a Red Bull cap and reaches over to put his signature on a green Tour of the Alps flag. It is the race\u2019s decisive day, and he is in a position he has never been in before as a pro cyclist \u2013 defending a lead, one of four seconds to Ineos Grenadiers duo Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal.<\/p>\n

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His Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe<\/a> team had talked about the possibility of bonus seconds coming into the equation in their internal pre-race plan, but the man from Le Marche had other intentions. \u201cIn my mind, I just wanted to drop everybody and arrive alone at the finish,\u201d he said afterwards.<\/p>\n

Job done, with his high cadence, pulling away from Bernal and Arensman in the final kilometres of the Montoppio climb and doubling his 15-second advantage on the descent to the finish at Bolzano.<\/p>\n

Pellizzari started the week at the Tour of the Alps as a favourite and finished with two stage victories and his first professional stage race win, possibly the first of many, won in exciting fashion, \u00e0 la pedale.<\/p>\n

More than a confidence boost, it is also an important last step towards his confirmation as a stage race leader on a team brimming with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, I was just a helper, and I started the race always thinking \u2018I hope I will perform\u2019. This morning, I had no choice, I had to perform,\u201d Pellizzari tells Cyclingnews in the race\u2019s final press conference. \u201cAnd this makes a lot of difference. Now I’m understanding what it means to be the leader. When you have one big team like Red Bull working for you, you cannot just say, \u2018I don’t have the legs.\u2019 You have to give a lot, and I’m learning this.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Tour of the Alps was a dress rehearsal for the 2026 Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a>, it was passed with flying colours. Not off the podium in his three stage races this year, Pellizzari\u2019s star continues to rise. With Jo\u00e3o Almeida and Richard Carapaz both set to miss the year\u2019s first Grand Tour, he is the second favourite with most bookmakers.<\/p>\n

With his Alpine masterclass, the ‘Duke of Camerino’ has arrived, a serious pretender to the crowns of Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> and Jonas Vingegaard \u2013 and a possible successor to Vincenzo Nibali.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

\n

\"Giulio\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a nickname, then? Every great Italian cyclist is given a moniker, and most of them belong in a menagerie: Fausto Coppi was ‘The Heron’, Nibali ‘The Shark’, Paolo Bettini ‘The Cricket’. Pellizzari has been anointed with something more regal. \u201cI prefer that to the animals,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Devised by Italian commentator Luca Gregorio at the 2025 Vuelta, it connects to his background. Pellizzari grew up in Italy\u2019s central Le Marche region, his hilltop hometown of Camerino devastated by a 2016 earthquake. It has a rich, proud history as the ancient capital of the Duchy of Da Varano. Every May sees a festival, complete with a Renaissance costume parade and a foot race where town suburbs compete for a sword. \u201cUnfortunately, I won\u2019t be attending this year because I\u2019ll be at the Giro,\u201d Pellizzari adds.<\/p>\n

He lined up at the Tour of the Alps, his first race in a month after doing altitude training on Mount Teide, not 100% confident in his form and unsure how his legs would fare.<\/p>\n

As it happens, he had little cause for fear. He was at the front, as he has been at his other stage races this season. Alongside his third places at the Volta Valenciana and Tirreno-Adriatico, it appears that he has taken another step up, physically and mentally, since finishing sixth in the 2025 Vuelta.<\/p>\n

\u201cI changed. I think I grew up,\u201d Pellizzari says. \u201cI\u2019m still young, last year was a really hard season, and I had a lot of recovery in the off-season, almost five weeks [off the bike]. I took on all the work we did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is not just one factor behind his improvement, but several. \u201cEverything: the materials made a lot of difference, but also the food, the training,\u201d he says. Working with coach and ex-pro Sylwester Szmyd, he is incidentally onto his third coach in as many years, having previously collaborated with Leonardo Piepoli and Paolo Artuso.<\/p>\n

\u201cI changed training a lot from last year, maybe that made a difference, but I don\u2019t know if I can say what [I changed]. Maybe I just grew up. These two Grand Tours made a difference when I started [this season],\u201d he says, referring to his Giro and Vuelta showings in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n

\"(L-R)\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Looking back twelve months to his Grand Tour breakthrough, his big memory was the gravel stage finishing in Siena, albeit not the race itself. \u201cThe stage went really shit because Primo\u017e crashed and had a flat tyre a few times, so we lost almost three minutes to [Isaac] del Toro<\/a>. But after, we stopped in a gas station and had some beers \u2013 the next day was a rest day, so we could do that \u2013 and then Primo\u017e said, \u2018We are still here, and we will fight until the end.\u2019 I think this was the most important day in the Giro for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan had been to help Rogli\u010d to victory, yet Pellizzari emerged in sixth place himself, finishing in the same group as Del Toro and Carapaz on the decisive stage 20 to Sestriere to move up a place overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was unexpected when I started the race. From June 1 last year, when the Giro finished, I started to think about the next one because I already wanted to come back for more,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His leadership lessons continued at the Vuelta. Pellizzari went into it going for a stage victory and switched objectives for GC after ending up in the front group after the first week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit not a real goal. And when I won the stage [at El Morredero], from there, my shape went down. Maybe my mind more,\u201d he says. \u201cOf course I wanted to take the white jersey [of best young rider], but maybe mentally, the job was already done.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also led Pellizzari to a realisation that what he does is never good enough for some people. The climber made the mistake of going on Facebook and reading negative comments after he dropped a place to sixth on stage 20, three days after his stage win. In one fell swoop, he was no longer the next Nibali to some.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is ready to give you shit. Today, you win, you are the idol; one day after you lose, you are the shittest rider in the world,\u201d he says. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have read, but I\u2019m too curious: \u2018We don\u2019t have an Italian who is good two days in a row\u2019. I understand how it works from that.\u201d Pellizzari adds that this won\u2019t be a problem at the Giro because he will turn off his social media.<\/p>\n

After sixth at the Giro and Vuelta, there is still pro cycling\u2019s blue riband race to sample. \u201cOf course, I would like to race the Tour de France. When I was a kid, it was always my dream to win it. It would be nice to race, but I want to go there when I\u2019ll be really ready to race it and enjoy it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Who or what decides that? \u201cMe. And then I will ask the team and see if they say yes or no. But I would like to do it a bit like Lipowitz: first Tour, finish on the podium,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Giulio\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

First things first: winning a stage race as a pro. After the Tour of the Alps, Pellizzari tells Cyclingnews that it is the first time in his life that he has achieved that \u2013 not even as a junior racer or before that.<\/p>\n

As a youngster, it was difficult to imagine him reaching such heights. \u201cI was born at the end of the year [November 2003], and I was always smaller than the others,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re 13, 14 years old, this makes the difference. Also, because all the races were flat, it was harder; I was always dropped. I grew up, got taller and heavier, and when I started to be good, I could race strongly in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pellizzari liked to attack from far out on the climbs. He remembers winning the 2019 Gran Premio Mocaiana, a small race in Gubbio, for his third victory as a junior. Alone in front and about to be caught, he accelerated on a two-kilometre kicker to open a gap to the chaser and won by 25 seconds in front of his parents.<\/p>\n

They were simpler times. When his dad bought him a \u20ac2,000 Canyon as a junior, Pellizzari already felt it was too much \u2013 also given the risk of crashing and breaking it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only me but everybody was more chill,\u201d Pellizzari says. \u201cI think my process was perfect because when I was a junior, I had a normal bike, I did normal training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I went to Bardiani [turning pro in 2022], it was already a ProTeam, but it did not have the best materials. I think it\u2019s the best because every year it was something more for me, every year I was excited. Now, you see juniors with bikes like ours. When they turn pro, it\u2019s the same for them: nothing is changing. It\u2019s important to have your feet on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pellizzari certainly still does. He impressed with his down-to-earth nature around the public and press at the Tour of the Alps. The kid who stood as a tifoso on Monte Grappa as eventual winner Nairo Quintana passed by him in the 2014 Giro still relates to the fans. If he can sign an autograph at the start, he will. Wearing a ready smile, he radiates positive energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I am quite balanced with life and sport. I am not too serious and not only joking,\u201d Pellizzari says. \u201cWhen I have to do the right things, I do them. I want to enjoy myself, I want to believe there is a life outside of cycling. That\u2019s the most important thing \u2013 because we cannot race until we\u2019re 43 years old like Pozzovivo. I will stop before then, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does not block out the media: before the press conference in Trento after stage four, he delves into his bag for his post-race tupperware meal and cheerfully says that it is rice and chicken. At another of his leader\u2019s press conferences, although there is a translator on hand daily, he cheerfully does the work himself, switching into Italian after giving an English answer. His authenticity and friendly nature are a refreshing change to the norm.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Giulio\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

One journalist remarked on how easygoing he is, asking whether he enjoyed being there and talking to the media, as it appeared to be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, yes. Winning is always good, and it\u2019s a way to relax and relieve the tension with people outside of the team who you don\u2019t spend all day with. Maybe I still like it because I\u2019m not very used to it; maybe in a month\u2019s time, I\u2019ll hate it,\u201d he said, smiling.<\/p>\n

There will no doubt be more attention at the Giro. In contrast, his form for the year\u2019s first grand tour has been honed up in the rarefied air of Mount Teide. Pellizzari enjoys the purity of altitude training, able to fine-tune his training, recovery and nutrition.<\/p>\n

All work and no play is not his style, though. As well as going on TikTok to relax, he plays football console game FIFA on the PlayStation with his Red Bull teammates, usually as Real Madrid. (Normally, it is two-versus-two, but they only had two controllers at the recent camp on pro cycling\u2019s most renowned active volcano.) He reckons he is the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always bring it, I play a lot at home,\u201d he says. \u201cJai Hindley is really shit. Aleotti is pretty strong. Zwiehoff is good, Lipo[witz] also.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this FIFA fighting talk, there is a budding bromance with the Australian Giro co-leader, seven years his senior. After winning on Gran Martello on stage 2 in a five-up sprint to move into the Tour of the Alps lead, Pellizzari said that he thought of the 2022 Giro champion in the last kilometres, owing to their training rides together in Tenerife. \u201cWe went for it, sprinting for every road sign. Sometimes I beat him, so I said today, \u2018I can win\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Pellizzari thinks having two options for leadership is better than one in the Giro d\u2019Italia. \u201cOf course, it depends what [kind of] person you are, but I think me and Jai are really friends off the bike. He helps me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on Teide speaking about the Tour of the Alps and I remember he said to me \u2018don\u2019t be excited if you are strong, don\u2019t be frustrated if you are shit.\u2019 This is important for a young rider, it\u2019s still two months away from the last week of the Giro. We just have to be calm and believe in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Bull team around him is also showing its strength. Giovanni Aleotti pulled an almighty turn on Montoppio to set up his decisive attack, and Pellizzari has also become closer with the experienced Aleksandr Vlasov, fourth in the 2021 Giro himself, during their time on Teide. \u201cWe have a really nice team, we are really friends, also because we spend a lot of time together. I think we can go, have fun and be strong at the Giro,\u201d Pellizzari says.<\/p>\n

While Pellizzari has not done any mountain stage recon trips, he has been working on his TT position and tried the 40km time-trial stage route before Tirreno-Adriatico.<\/p>\n

The million-euro question is whether he, or any fellow contender, can match Jonas Vingegaard. \u201cI hope I will not be so far from him and that the Giro will be open until the end,\u201d Pellizzari said in his post-Tour of the Alps press conference. \u201cBut of course, we have to see. I\u2019m missing some shape to be ready for the Giro; there are some things to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"(L-R)\n<\/p>\n

Pellizzari could follow in the footsteps of his peer and close friend, Isaac del Toro (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The fine-tuning will be carried out at Schfanastal, doing a last bit of altitude training in Trentino with trusted gregario Gianni Moscon before flying to Bulgaria for the grande partenza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens during the race\u2019s three weeks, Pellizzari is still a work in progress. \u201cI have to improve moving in the group a bit, take the climbs in the front. I already got better from last year, but there are still things to do,\u201d he tells Cyclingnews. \u201cIt will be important because at the Giro, you can lose the race in a stupid moment when you are not in the right position. So this is the most important thing I have to prove,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It has been five years since an Italian won a men’s WorldTour stage race, Sonny Colbrelli successful in the mountain-free 2021 Benelux Tour; ten years since the last Italian Grand Tour winner, which saw Vincenzo Nibali crowned in Turin. \u201cI\u2019m still young, so I can try to catch him,\u201d Pellizzari said in his post-race press conference.<\/p>\n

The palpable hope is that the drought could be over with the ‘Duke of Camerino’. After his final Tour of the Alps press conference, former Giro winner Stefano Garzelli wanted a selfie with him; his great rival Gilberto Simoni already got his photo with him that morning. Everyone wants a piece of Pellizzari.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the hope of Italian cycling,\u201d Francesco Moser tells me, squinting in the sunshine, after handing the Tour of the Alps winner a prize on the final podium in Bolzano.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope he can carry on with this form. He\u2019s a strong climber, and to win stage races, that\u2019s what you need. And he has a good team, that counts for a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

No pressure then, Giulio. \u201cI just have to do my thing, I cannot think about outside [expectations]. We will see; for now, it\u2019s too early maybe to say if I will win a grand tour or not in my life. But we are working for that,\u201d Pellizzari says.<\/p>\n

In the 2024 Giro d\u2019Italia, after being passed by Tadej Poga\u010dar on Monte Pana and condemned to second place on the stage, Pellizzari spontaneously asked the superstar for his maglia rosa, and he obliged.<\/p>\n

This time round, he can win and wear the hallowed jersey for himself on his own merits. \u201cThis is the dream,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Tadej\n<\/p>\n

Pellizzari will be hoping for a pink jersey of his own this May (Image credit: Zac Williams\/SWpix.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Cyclingnews sits with Giulio Pellizzari in the sunshine outside Red Bull\u2019s Innsbruck hotel on the eve of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-567390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}