‘I cannot ask for more’ - Bilbao on a career that peaked at 33 and ends on Saturday

Asked for the first word that comes to mind when he thinks about retirement, Pello Bilbao does not hesitate.

“Relaxed.”

The 36-year-old will bring his professional career to an end at Il Lombardia on Saturday, closing a chapter that began with Euskaltel Euskadi in 2011.

Back then, Bilbao was rarely anywhere near the front of the biggest races. Fifteen seasons later, he leaves the sport with Grand Tour stage victories, major Classic results and a career that, by his own assessment, exceeded anything he once imagined.

“I think I’ve completely fulfilled my expectations. I even did more than I expected, especially considering my first years as a pro, when I was not even close to the front of the races,” Bilbao told Domestique.

“Everything went in progression, and I can say that until 33 years old I didn’t arrive at my peak.”

Bilbao’s rise was unusually gradual. He won twice at the Giro d’Italia in 2019 and produced some of the best results of his career well into his thirties. The defining moment came at the 2023 Tour de France, when he won stage 10 from the breakaway in Issoire.

For Bilbao, that victory stands above the rest.

“For a kind of rider like me, the Tour de France stage is the biggest goal you can achieve. I was a couple of times close, and I was never obsessed about any result or too worried about my palmarès,” he said.

“But with the Tour de France stage it was different. For me this was a must.”

There was one obvious gap left on his Grand Tour record. Victory at the Vuelta a España would have put Bilbao among the select group of riders to have won stages in all three Grand Tours.

He had one final opportunity this year and targeted stage 21 in Granada accordingly.

“During the Vuelta I was quite conscious that stage 21 was going to be probably my only chance. I was super mentalised for it. Maybe I was the first one to show the cards, and this limited me in the last moment to surprise the group,” he said.

“Brennan was also there and was focusing quite a lot on me. Obviously I was not going to do the job for him.”

The victory never came. Bilbao, however, discovered that completing the set mattered less to him than he might once have imagined.

“People speak like this, that it would be nice to enter the club. But if someone remembers me, it’s not going to be because I joined that select club in the last moment of my career,” he said.

“They are going to remember me for different things, and for me personally that is much more important.”

That perspective shaped Bilbao’s final Grand Tour.

Bahrain Victorious left the Vuelta with the mountains jersey through Santiago Buitrago and a stage victory through Jakob Omrzel, who won at Calar Alto from a move containing both Bilbao and Buitrago.

For Bilbao, helping make those results possible became more valuable than chasing one final victory of his own.

“Someone from outside could say Pello should go for a stage victory and try to get his stage. But for me the most important mission was to bring the team to this level,” he said.

“Every day we were achieving the plan. I was enjoying racing so much at that point, knowing it was going to be my last Grand Tour and trying to transmit everything I could to the younger riders.”

Omrzel later told Domestique that having Bilbao and Buitrago alongside him had given him the confidence to attack.

For Bilbao, that is part of the legacy he values most.

“Sometimes you can achieve an important victory and you will remember it. But when you help someone to an important victory, you create a connection with someone forever,” he said.

“Jakob will always remember this moment, and we have this connection already.”

Bilbao entered the professional peloton in 2011. As he prepares to leave it 15 years later, he believes two developments have transformed racing more than anything else: speed and nutrition.

“The average speed in the race, and this is due mainly to material development in aerodynamics, and second to nutrition. These were huge changes from 2011 to 2026.”

To explain the difference to younger teammates, Bilbao sometimes tells them what taking an energy gel meant when he started racing.

“For me, taking a gel was like someone now taking a final bottle. It was just for the last effort, pure sugar that went fast into your blood. Never in a flat stage,” he said.

“We were making intakes around 40 or 50 grams of carbs per hour. Now I’m not one of the riders who can reach the highest points, but I do around 110. There are riders arriving at 150 or more.”

The way teams race has changed with it.

At this year’s Tour, even stages traditionally suited to breakaways attracted riders of the calibre of Mads Pedersen and Mathieu van der Poel.

Most of the teams feel the potential to be there every day. Before, we rode more conservatively, and every team needed to focus on one objective. You are doing a sprint, or the overall, or stage hunting,” Bilbao said.

“Nowadays the biggest teams are aiming for everything. Already in February you see big names winning small races.”

The UCI points system has added another dimension. Results that might once have meant little beyond the podium now carry tangible value for teams fighting for ranking points.

“Now you can consider you did a good race if you finish fifth in a WorldTour classic, because it’s a lot of points for the team,” Bilbao said.

“But to arrive at a victory, even in the smaller races, is very expensive. A lot of riders have stopped believing in their possibilities.”

For Bilbao, there is another consequence of cycling’s relentless increase in speed: safety.

“Nowadays the speed is maybe three or four kilometres per hour faster than when I started, and many times you go 70 per hour on the flat,” he said.

“Obviously the safety measures are not growing at the same rhythm.”

He believes that should force cycling to reconsider some of the roads and routes it continues to use, even when they form part of the sport’s history.

“There are some kinds of parcours that with the speeds nowadays are getting really dangerous. I cannot say it’s inappropriate, because there is a history behind it,” he said.

“But cycling is a different sport now, and I think we need to adapt some of these parcours and forget a little bit about the history of cycling.”

Saturday will be Bilbao’s fourth Il Lombardia and his final day as a professional cyclist.

Unlike in previous seasons, however, he arrives in October without feeling that the year has already taken everything out of him.

“I was usually really focused on the beginning of the season, then arriving at the end on the limit. This year is different,” he said.

“I didn’t do the Tour, my only Grand Tour was the Vuelta, and I came out of it in really good condition, fresh and motivated. So this could be my best Lombardia for sure.”

There is evidence to support his optimism. Bilbao finished sixth at Liège Bastogne Liège and fifth at San Sebastián this season, while he believes mechanical problems denied him the chance to show his best at Amstel Gold Race and Strade Bianche.

“In every big classic I was always there feeling super. With the age, it’s easier now for me to perform in this kind of long and very aerobic classic.”

It leaves him with one final opportunity on Saturday, but Bilbao does not sound like a rider desperate for a fairytale ending.

There is no unfinished business he feels compelled to settle. No result that will determine how he looks back on the previous 15 years.

And once he crosses the finish line in Lombardia, there is no carefully mapped out second career waiting for him either.

“I didn’t plan the next step. I want to take one year off. The main reason I’m stopping is to enjoy time with my family, with my kids and friends,” he said.

“I want to just breathe and stop. During this year I will think deeply and understand what I really want to do.”

After a career that took him further than he once thought possible, Bilbao appears comfortable leaving without knowing exactly what comes next.

“I cannot ask for more.”