Damiano Caruso set for new Bahrain Victorious role after retirement

The 38-year-old Italian, who has said that 2026 will be his final season as a professional rider, signed the agreement on the final day of the Giro d’Italia in Rome.

Caruso has been with Bahrain Victorious since 2019 and has become one of the team’s most trusted figures. His value has been measured not only in results, but according to team also in the guidance he has given to younger riders and the calm authority he brings during Grand Tours.

That influence was again visible during this year’s Giro d’Italia. At 38, Caruso finished ninth overall, took a podium finish on Stage 17 and was named the race’s Most Combative Rider after repeatedly shaping the action across three weeks of racing.

Just as significant was his role in the breakthrough performance of Afonso Eulálio. The young Portuguese rider spent nine days in the Maglia Rosa, won the Maglia Bianca and finished sixth overall. Inside Bahrain Victorious, Caruso’s support and guidance during that run are viewed as a clear example of the role he is now expected to play from the other side of the race radio.

“For me, this feels like a very natural step,” Caruso said. “I have been with Bahrain Victorious since 2019 and over the years this team has become much more than a team, it has become a family.”

He said the new position feels like a continuation of responsibilities he had already taken on informally.

“Throughout that time I have always tried to help the younger riders, share my experience and act as a bridge between the riders and the management,” Caruso said. “So in many ways this new role feels like a continuation of what I have already been doing.”

The move does not bring Caruso’s racing career to an immediate end. He is set to continue through the remainder of the 2026 season, with one major target still ahead: a stage victory at the Tour de France.

With stage wins already secured at the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, a victory in France would complete Caruso’s set of stage wins across all three Grand Tours. He would become the 117th rider to achieve the feat, after Sepp Kuss became the 116th with his stage victory at this year’s Giro.

“My career as a rider is not finished yet,” Caruso said. “I still have important goals for this season and I am fully committed to giving everything for the team until the very last race.”