At age 43, Domenico Pozzovivo is one of the most illustrious cases of longevity in professional cycling. The Team Solution Tech - NIPPO - Rali rider is aiming to take part in the Giro d'Italia next year, 22 years after his debut.
This is made possible by the Italian team's performances throughout the year, which have earned them a place in the UCI's Top30 in the team rankings. "It’s a top-30 finish that I believe is well-deserved. We managed to achieve it with a certain sense of calm, thanks to consistent performance throughout the entire season," Pozzovivo said in an interview with Bici.pro.
"My contribution in terms of points—all earned in Europe, I might add—was far from marginal. I’m proud to have kept the promises I made to the team when I first joined".
Pozzovivo signed a contract in March and from there on rode a full eason, quickly reaching the podium of the Giro dell'Appennino, Tour of Hellas and GP Beiras e Serra da Estrela on some of his first appearances. He achieved the same at the Czech Tour later in the year. The schedule design and his ability to maintain form have led him to surpass his objectives.
"I had mentioned a target of 500 points, and I’ve just surpassed that. It’s a shame about how things ended; otherwise, I could have reached an even higher mark. Between a bout of tracheitis before the Giro dell’Emilia and a crash at the Japan Cup, I still managed to exceed my own expectations".
Domenico Pozzovivo at the 2026 Giro dell'Appenino
Family above everything for Pozzovivo
Pozzovivo, every year since 2022, has only gotten a racing contract during the ongoing season. At the end of 2024, he had announced his retirement whilst racing for the Bardiani team - in which he's spent plenty of his early-career years.
But this spring he returned, with a different mindset and way of working, but mentally much fresher: "Let’s just say I’ve stuck to what I set out to do from the very beginning—when the idea of returning first crossed my mind—which was to take things a bit more lightly. Partly because, as I’ve often mentioned, I have a family commitment: raising my daughter".
"In my situation, you tend to put everything into perspective; you realize that, at my age, cycling can’t be the center of your entire world. Paradoxically, when you approach it this way, you’re also mentally freer from the pressure of results. And physically, the performance metrics I’ve recorded in training are the best I’ve ever had".
Pozzovivo joined the ProTeam level Solution Tech, in which he would not find the extremely demanding and pressure-inducing environment of the World Tour, where contracts are also harder to obtain for older riders at this point in time. But in the Italian team, the collaboration was ideal.
"The desire to continue is there—provided I keep this same spirit and these same ingredients. If that’s the case, I could certainly see myself taking on another season, without it becoming "one season too many".
Pozzovivo turned professional in 2005 at age 22, and continues to perform on the TV screens across the world. Such a case of longevity is almost unheard of, and was compared to the spectacularism of such extreme cases of success such as that of Tadej Pogacar.
"Generalizing based on individual cases can be a mistake," he warns however. "Whether you’re looking at exceptional outliers or trying to apply the achievements of extraordinary talents like Tadej Pogačar or Remco Evenepoel to the broader peloton".
"In my own case, my longevity is perhaps less common. That said, a long career is still entirely possible in modern cycling. The challenge is that the mental and physical aspects must evolve in tandem". Pozzovivo has managed them like few others.
Domenico Pozzovivo made his return to professional cycling at this year's Tour of the Alps
The best Pozzovivo in terms of numbers
And that is not only visible in the contract list, but in the power meter. "Fundamentally, there’s a genetic predisposition that allows one to maintain a certain level of performance even as the years go by—something not everyone is gifted with. The rest is already covered in your question: a nutritional approach and a training methodology that allow you to fully tap into your physical potential".
Pozzovivo has turned professional at a time where the demands of the sport were much lesser, and his physical evolution throughout the years has kept him motivated.
"Paradoxically, for someone like me who has lived through several different eras of cycling, this might even leave a few regrets. When I was younger—back when my physical capabilities were still at their peak, and especially before my 2019 accident—I didn’t fully realize my potential. But, ultimately, the answer is simple: the necessary knowledge just didn’t exist at the time".
"It was a different era. Things like supplementation, nutrition, technology, and training methodologies—all these solutions only became available to me during the latter, declining phase of my career, and they helped soften that decline significantly," he tells.
Whilst some of his most prominent results have come in the early and mid 2010's, in 2022 Pozzovivo finished 8th at the Giro d'Italia and later in the year finished third behind only Enric Mas and Tadej Pogacar at the Giro dell'Emilia, showing he had the legs to win amongst top World Tour competition still.
Pozzovivo has raced the Giro d'Italia on 18 occasions, matching Wladimiro Panizza who raced from the 1960's to 1980's. If the Italian is to start another edition, he will be the first to ever start 19 different editions of the Corsa Rosa.
Another full year for Pozzovivo?
"I hope to finalize everything in November, which would actually be a departure from my recent seasons," Pozzovivo, who hasn't had a regular off-season in six years, admitted. According to ProCyclingStats, the Italian has since signed a new deal for 2027 with the Italian team.
But in his declarations, he explained why this contract was a major wish for him. "It’s very important for me to head into the winter with a clear plan in mind—knowing when and how to aim for peak performance".
He believes this could make a major change, as some of his best performances this year came outside of racing. "And I’ll tell you something else: in the season that just wrapped up, my best performances actually came before I returned to racing".
"I was constantly testing myself, pushing hard—partly for the fun of it, and partly for training. During the actual racing season, I really struggled to reach the same peaks I’d hit earlier in the spring," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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