Pellizzari relieved after difficult time trial as Red Bull hope illness setback is easing

Pellizzari had been one of the riders affected by stomach problems during Sunday’s stage, a day he described as tough both physically and mentally. After the rest day, however, he said the situation had improved.

“I knew that I had to suffer today,” Pellizzari said after the finish to reporters, including Domestique. “I think I lost around 25 watts compared to my pacing plan, but I was quite fast. Now we just have to recover and think about the next stage.”

Eventually, the Italian finished 18th on the stage, 3:18 down on winner Filippo Ganna, and now sits ninth in the general classification, more than three and a half minutes behind race leader Afonso Eulálio and three minutes behind Jonas Vingegaard.

Beyond the numbers, Pellizzari’s first concern was whether he would feel like himself again after Sunday’s difficult stage. His answer was encouraging.

“Yes, I feel better. Sunday was a really hard day mentally and physically, but now I have recovered. I feel like new.”

He added that the shorter effort had made a difference compared with the demands of a long road stage.

“Of course, doing 50 minutes is different from doing four and a half hours of racing. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel good and I can continue this Giro.”

Red Bull sports director Zak Dempster had already told Domestique before the stage that the rest day had come at the right moment for the team, with both Giulio Pellizzari and Jai Hindley recovering from a difficult Sunday.

“The rest day came at a good time,” Dempster said. “It was never over the top, they were just a bit off on the Sunday stage, which we saw. Then we had the rest day to lick the wounds a little bit and take the best decisions around health.”

Dempster stressed that the situation had not been severe, but that the team had needed to manage it carefully during a Grand Tour, where even a small physical issue can quickly become costly.

“No one was extremely sick. It was just a little bit off,” he said. “We’re hopeful we can turn it around. In the end, they can be proud of how they defended their losses in what was not a perfect situation.”