'Now I can say it' - Pellizzari feared abandoning Tirreno before hometown finale

Giulio Pellizzari has revealed that he feared he would be forced to abandon Tirreno-Adriatico due to a tendon injury in his left leg. The Italian maintained his hold on second place overall on stage 6, but he confessed that he might not have made it through the day at all had the finish not been in his hometown of Camerino in the Marche.

“Now I can say it. For the last three days, I’ve been struggling with pain in a tendon that just keeps nagging me,” Pellizzari told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “This morning, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to finish the race.” 

Pellizzari did more than simply finish, even if he was ultimately unable to dislodge his friend Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) from the overall lead at day’s end. 

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider trailed Del Toro by 23 seconds ahead of the stage, and he twice attacked the Mexican on the steep climb into Camerino, at one point even gesticulating to his home tifosi to dial up the noise on the roadside. “What can I say? I don’t have words, I just want to thank everybody. They were fantastic,” Pellizzari said.

His effort was snuffed out, however, and Del Toro would press clear to claim stage victory, while Pellizzari had to settle for fourth on the stage, nine seconds down. That performance was just enough to keep him in second overall, 42 seconds behind Del Toro and one second ahead of Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike).

“To be honest: if the finish line hadn’t been here in Camerino, I really think I would have withdrawn. I didn’t expect to finish fourth,” said Pellizzari, who was less concerned about saving second place from Jorgenson. “Honestly, I wanted to stay on the podium, but there’s no difference between second and third.”

Pellizzari will be Red Bull’s co-leader at the Giro d’Italia alongside Jai Hindley, reviving their double act from last year’s Vuelta a España. He is scheduled to race Milano-Torino and Milan-Sanremo in the coming week, while next month’s Tour of the Alps will be his final preparation race ahead of the Giro.