INTERVIEW | Pello Bilbao on 'disbalance' of World Tour teams, downhill risks, mixed 2024 season and the day he was second to Tadej Pogacar
Cycling
Pello Bilbao has had a mixed season but showed that at the age of 34 he continues to ride at a brilliant level amongst the World Tour riders. In conversation with CyclingUpToDate, the Basque veteran has discussed several topics ranging from the change in the top teams' dominance; his 2024 and 2025 season goals; his mentality towards safety and descending, and more!
Bilbao, who turned professional in 2011, has for the first time abandoned a Grand Tour this year - after completing 15 in good condition. This was the negative point of his season: "The negative one obviously was to abandon the Tour, it was one of the biggest of the season and when you put so much energy and long time preparing for it... It was hard to abandon, it was also the first time in my career that I abandoned a three-week race, it was pretty hard". He chose to not race the other Grand Tours this year, but managed to obtain good results over those periods.
His high moment of the season was his victory at the queen stage of the Tour of Slovenia's queen stage. "It came in a good moment and yeah it was after doing a good beginning of the season but without any victory it was also great to have the chance to raise the hands".
In the spring Bilbao was third at the UAE Tour, sixth at the Itzulia Basque Country and Top10's at Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He then prepared for the Tour, but had to abandon halfway through. He then went on to finish 9th at the GP de Québec, but as a highlight, second behind Tadej Pogacar at the GP de Montréal.
"Almost felt like a victory no? Many people congratulate me and yeah it was like a kind of race where you think because of the parcours and because Tadej was there, maybe the best position possible is the second one," he explained. "And yeah also that day I felt it was not possible to follow him, I just tried to make a good move and play my cards, forgetting that Tadej was in the race and in the end it was good for me". This was a sentiment shared by many others during the year, but it assures that Bilbao is still capable of winning at the highest level.
In 2025 he had mentioned he would like to win at the Vuelta a España to complete his Grand Tour trebble, but it may collide with his main goals. "I don't know, I would really like to do this for my palmarès but I don't know if I'm going to have the space for the Vuelta, because for the moment I would like to start with the Giro [...] then the second part of the season will be very open, I will have a lot of objective before arriving to the end of the season but yeah everyone asks if this is an important goal for me. I'm not someone obsessed really with the palmarès or with achieving these things, but it would be nice," he admits.
His 2025 season will be an important one, as he starts once again as one of the team's leaders. Nothing is certain about his schedule yet besides the race where he will debut the team's jersey: "I'm gonna start in Valencia, this is the only information I have regarding my calendar, but in a few days I hope to have more information".
He says that he isn't one of the rider whom the main teams have reached out to, to boost their millionaire squads: "Not really because in the end I always had a big margin with my contract, the team team really trusted on me and I did so, so I always had one or two more years of contract ahead. I never really thought of moving from this team," Bilbao assures. But he does worry about the growing gap between the top teams and the rest. The team was unable to keep in recent years riders like Mikel Landa and Jonathan Milan.
"We can see this now and the biggest teams are more than double the budget of the smaller teams and this makes a big disbalance I'd say. And also it's becoming more and more difficult to have the stronger leaders because a lot of leaders are going to the big teams even if they need to work for somebody all season," he laments. "This is a bit unfair maybe, but yeah we cannot do anything, it's part of the sport. Big brands are aiming to put the bigger budget, it is also good for other sports so we cannot complain".
We asked him about the risks he takes going downhill, seeing that the Basque is a career-long specialist in this type of terrain. He admits that he is more selective in the moments in which he does this: "No I would say in the last few years I try to be very selective with the moments I want to take the risk. I just take the risk when I feel I have free wheel or free road just for me and trying not to involve other riders in my movement".
"I know that if they are trying to chase me they are taking more risks, but I try to do it just in the moments where it's worth it and it's going to be a big benefit or it's going to be a possibility for a race victory or for the strategy of the team it's important to make it in that moment. I try to make these situations in a very controlled way, studying well the descent and the possible factors that they can control".
Lastly, he has seen lots of young riders join the team this winter, including climbers Lenny Martínez and Afonso Eulálio. We asked about the latter, who he should team up with a few times during the year. "I didn't race with him but these days I had the opportunity to chat with him and he looks like a really nice guy, and also he surprised me how late he started to ride a bike. He told me until 2020 he was not even riding a bike, so I was surprised how fast he did the process to get to the World Tour".
Bilbao is very excited at the prospect that the team may have signed one of the riders with the fastest development in the entire peloton, who could potentially aim high with the team later on. "Makes us think on how big possibilities he has to still improve and develop, especially that he comes from a very small team where he didn't have a lot of support and was able to do big results in smaller races but already with some good contender - like Asturias, Gettxo, we could see him in really good moves," he concluded.
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- It does, he had some weight management issues, being too lightweight I believe. He will be right there if he comes healthy.awp15-01-2025
- I think you are right. The way he came back from that dreadful accident and still managed to finish second in the tour speaks volumes.roadman5412115-01-2025
- Never count Vingegaard out. He is one hell of great athlete. If he comes healthy it will be game on.awp15-01-2025
- We are in for what might just be one of cycle racing's best ever years. I'm so looking forward to it. Bring it on!1stpastthepost15-01-2025
- I like to have a bet on cycling now and then. No big stakes a £ or a $ and always feel that given the right circumstances Alaphilipe gives you value for money :-)1stpastthepost15-01-2025
- What else is he supposed to say, "no, he's unbeatable, we'll be fighting for top 10"😂vappaxbipmv15-01-2025
- I have no cause. I think that it is a healthy thing for a human being to forgive and, where possible, forget an “adolescent” lapse of judgement. Regarding rape or genocide or the many other bad things the human race does to each other I surely do make comment where appropriate. We all have exactly the same choice and fundamental right to question and engage similarly on “any” topic that concerns you - as you have done here.roadman5412115-01-2025
- Erm, that’s pretty forgiving, up to what point are you willing to go? Rape, murder, genocide? As for Mikolajjj, if you feel so strongly on the subject, why waste you time here where the author is hardly likely to notice you. There must be millions of worse cases to go comment on snd thousandd on more useful websites for furthering your cause.Mistermaumau15-01-2025
- He is definitely among the best, but marred by bad luck the past few years. With Pogi, MvDP, Remco and Wout dominating the classics, the likelihood for him to win in the classics is slimmer these days even if he's back to his best shape. I like his attacks, more strength to his elbow.
KerisVroom15-01-2025 - Yeh he is cool. I hope he has a good year.1stpastthepost14-01-2025