Domenico Pozzovivo combines mentoring and leadership in his last Giro d'Italia: "It would be nice to reach the top 10"
Cycling
Domenico Pozzovivo is slowly pulling down the curtain on his long and respectable career, however before he gives a farewell to the professional peloton for good there's still one big mission awaiting the 41-year-old. Returning to VF Group-Bardiani-CSF-Faizané where he rode his first Giro d'Italia, he'll now close the circle with number 18.
"First of all," Pozzovivo begins his interview for Bici.pro. "I would never have thought of racing 18 Giro d'Italia, it is an achievement that the more I think about it the more considerable it seems to me. But I will tackle it with the same attention and enthusiasm as the first, over the years I have maintained this mentality and I am happy about it. One of the reasons for wanting to race again in 2024 was the great desire that pushed me to do so."
"It would be nice to reach the top 10, a result that at my age would be a great pleasure. Furthermore, a presence in that part of the ranking would be a source of pride and visibility for the team. I will have many young teammates at my side, I think that during the three weeks I will be a point of reference for them. In particular, I think I can teach Pellizzari a lot."
"It's his first Giro d'Italia, but in a very different type of cycling compared to my debut in the Corsa Rosa. I had to worry about staying up and finishing the three weeks of the race. Pellizzari, on the other hand, arrives ready and with every possibility of aiming for a stage victory. Having me at his side will take some pressure off him and he will be able to pedal lighter."
Read also
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024