Damiano Caruso "fully satisfied" with the 2025 campaign, announces that 2026 will be his final year in peloton

At 38 years of age, Damiano Caruso is going through a phase of his career that he himself describes as surprising. A season that began with doubts about his retirement has turned into a path of rediscovery, where the recovered physical condition, the pleasure of sacrifice and the unexpected victory in Burgos towards the end have shown him that he still has a lot to contribute to cycling.

The Italian rider is preparing to face 2026 as his final professional season in the colors of Bahrain - Victorious, with the intention of giving his all and closing his successful career as a cyclist on a high while leaving everything on the road.

Caruso can look back on his 2025 season with satisfaction: "I surprised myself once again. At the beginning of the year I had almost decided to retire, but then came a more than decent season. That's why I can say I'm fully satisfied," he says in an interview with OA Sport.

The key moment that Caruso re-consider retirement plans came at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, where the experienced Italian once again rose to the top-5 overall as his younger teammates failed to perform. "In 2024 I couldn't find a real form, but in 2025, around April, I started to feel good. I confirmed it at the Tour of the Alps and then at the Giro it was perfect. I felt I still had something to give to the sport."

Beating his breakaway companions in Burgos at the age of 38 was "the icing on the cake," according to Caruso: "I wasn't thinking so much about the win as about delivering a solid performance. The win came totally unexpectedly and it was a great pleasure, especially because it wasn't a 'given' victory. There was a big peloton, I looked for the breakaway and I interpreted the race in the best possible way."

Caruso confirms that 2026 will be his last professional season. As for life after the bike, he still intends to remain linked to the world of cycling: "I'd like to take advantage of the experience I've accumulated over the years. Then we'll see how everything evolves, but that's the idea at the moment.

Regarding his goals for the final season in peloton, he adds: "I hope to reach a good level and be competitive in the races. Once I have achieved that, my goal is to finish the season with the certainty of having given my all and of having been useful for me and for the team."

Caruso acknowledges that his career took a turn after he turned 30: "I decided to get out of my comfort zone. Maybe in the early years I got a little comfortable. With maturity I understood that I had to demand more of myself, and that's where the results came from. With hindsight, I think I could have done more before, but cycling was different and young people were given more time to grow. Even so, I'm satisfied and have no regrets".

In 2021, Caruso landed his most remarkable performance at the Giro d'Italia by finishing second overall behind Egan Bernal, whom he even challenged for the overall victory with a daring attack on the final mountain stage. Although that didn't work out for more than a stage victory, Caruso left a lasting mark at the history of the race.

His main regret is also tied to Corsa Rosa, but rather than to his defeat in 2021 edition, it relates to 2022 when his team wanted to have the reborn Caruso ride for GC at the Tour de France, but things didn't work out as planned and Caruso ultimately DNF'd the race.

Instead, he would've preferred to have been at the Giro that year as his form was stellar around the period as evidenced by 6th place at Romandie and 4th at Dauphiné, the two races that frame the Giro.

"I probably would have preferred to ride the Giro that year, but you have to respect the team's decisions. In the Tour, I also had the ambition to try the classification or win a stage, trying to get as much as possible."