'I hope everything I've been through is useful in 2027' - Pellizzari draws lessons from Giro suffering

Giulio Pellizzari started the 2026 Giro d'Italia as Italy's next great hope, but illness ruined his challenge and the subsequent disappointment and widespread criticism hit him hard. What had looked like a breakthrough season turned into a series of lessons about life and pro racing.

"I hope that everything I've been through this year is useful in 2027," Pellizzari told Domestique as the 2026 season ended.

"It was a fundamental season for my development. I've learnt a lot. It was great to win some races but I learnt far more from when things went wrong."

Pellizzari started the year with high expectations after a fine first season with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in 2025 that included a stage victory and sixth overall at the Vuelta a España after he had already finished sixth at the Giro.

In 2023, Pellizzari finished second overall at the Tour of the L'Avenir behind Isaac del Toro, with Davide Piganzoli third, as the three friends and rivals showed their Grand Tour potential.

Del Toro swiftly demonstrated his quality with UAE Team Emirates-XRG, placing second overall at the 2025 Giro and third in this year's Tour de France, while Piganzoli fulfilled a vital role in Jonas Vingegaard's Giro victory this season before also securing a place in the Visma | Lease a Bike squad for the Tour.

At first, 2026 looked like it would also be Pellizzari's turn to step up. His early results and exuberant character accelerated the hype train that he was the coming man of Italian cycling.

Pellizzari wore the leader's jersey for a day at Tirreno-Adiratico and stage 6 finished in his home town of Camerino in the Le Marche region, with his friends and family cheering him on.

He was in pain due to a tendon problem but fought to finish third overall, again behind Del Toro, and he was quickly compared to Vincenzo Nibali. A dominant victory at the Tour of the Alps, the first since Nibali in 2013, only increased the pre-Giro expectations.

Red Bull named Pellizzari and Jai Hindley as joint team leaders for the Giro after the two trained together at altitude. Back in 2024, while riding for Bardiani-CSF, Pellizzari spontaneously asked Tadej Pogačar for his maglia rosa for his younger brother after he was caught on Monte Pana. Now he was suddenly riding for his own pink jersey.

The first week of the Giro went well for Pellizzari. He went with Vingegaard on a late stage 2 attack in Bulgaria and then was the last rider to be dropped by the Dane on the climb to Blockhaus. His effort ultimately cost him and he was passed by Felix Gall and Hindley, but the Italian tifosi loved his show of ambition.

"I followed him, I over did it, and that was it," Pellizzari said post-stage. "I think everybody saw that I tried too much, but I mean, when you’re there, it’s not easy when you are at 180 heart rate, so it’s not easy to think, but I had to try."

Pellizzari paid for his effort and fell ill in the days that followed. He suffered in the Viareggio time trial and never recovered, with the criticism hurting him as much as the virus that spread through the Red Bull team and much of the Giro peloton. He eventually cracked on the stage mountain finish to Carì in Switzerland, where Vingegaard won alone as Pellizzari lost 18 minutes.

"The show's over," he said beyond the finish line.

Pellizzari stayed in the Giro to help Hindley finish third overall but he was happy simply to make it to Rome. There was little to celebrate in Rome but lots to learn from.

"The Giro taught me lots of different things," Pellizzari told Domestique last month.

"It taught me how to handle Grand Tours and various situations. It taught me to stay calm, how to isolate myself, stay in my world and not worry about what people say." 

As his friends and San Marino neighbours Piganzoli and Del Toro faced their own lessons about Grand Tour racing at the Tour, Pellizzari rested-up and recovered, licking his wounds.

"The Giro was humiliating in lots of ways. I went from staying with Vingegaard to being dropped on climbs with sprinters like Jonathan Milan," Pellizzari told the Triciclo podcast in late summer.

"It was crazy that some people thought I wasn't ill and just an excuse for a poor performance. People were insinuating that my level on the climbs was the same as a sprinter.

"I was one of the youngest riders to finish in the top ten in two Grand Tours in the same season, then people decided that I wasn't a Grand Tour rider. Even former pros question my ability. That hurt and I wanted to even reach out to them and ask why they were so critical."  

Pellizzari trained hard in July as the media spotlight was on the Tour. He won the final mountain stage at the Vuelta a Burgos in August, another at the Deutschland Tour and then added the Giro della Toscana one-day race.

However, he never reached a peak of form that allowed him to be competitive at WorldTour level. He was selected for the World Championships but struggled to fulfill his domestique role in the Italian team.

Pellizzari and Red Bull were happy to end the season at Il Lombardia and try to learn the lessons from a rollercoaster season.

"With Giulio, in the end I think you learn more from the bad things or the races where you don’t hit the goals, than when you go top five or podium," Red Bull Chief of Sports Zak Dempster told Domestique.

"We’ve definitely learned things, but at the same time, he’s won six bike races this year, which is pretty incredible. So even without the GC in the Giro, I think he’s made huge steps. We’re really excited to see him back in the Grand Tours next year."

Pellizzari is expected to return to the Giro in 2027 and again have a leadership role. At the race presentation earlier this week, Nibali was among those to back the idea: "Pellizzari has time and the talent to make up for a disappointing season."