“Keep fighting until Rome” - Giulio Pellizzari continues to pick up the pieces after Roglic abandonment

With Primoz Roglic out and Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe forced to regroup, few would have expected the young Giulio Pellizzari to emerge as one of the team’s standout riders at the 2025 Giro d’Italia. And yet, as the race rolls into its final mountain gauntlet, Pellizzari sits seventh overall, five minutes off the maglia rosa of Isaac Del Toro, and still full of belief.

Before the start of Stage 19, Pellizzari spoke to Cycling Pro Net with the same beaming optimism that have helped him over the past 3 weeks. “I’m 21 years old, I’m living my dream,” he said, smiling. “So I can’t be only happy.”

It’s a rare attitude deep into the Giro, where fatigue and pressure have begun to show on nearly every face in the peloton. But Pellizzari’s joy feels genuine. His team may have lost its leader on Stage 16, but the Italian’s morale has only grown, especially after teammate Nico Denz salvaged a morale-boosting stage win yesterday.

“Yesterday we were really, really happy for Nico,” Pellizzari said. “We spent a lot of time together in training in the last three months. We came here for another goal, but in the end, we won a stage. So we are happy and keep fighting until Rome.”

Fighting is exactly what Pellizzari intends to do over the next two days, with Stage 19 and 20 set to provide the Giro’s hardest terrain: big mountains, long climbs, and no room to hide. “Finally, it’s coming, the hardest stage in this Giro,” he said. “So many climbs, long climbs… we’ll keep fighting and let’s see what happens. If the legs are good, we will try for sure.”

Even in the absence of Roglic, Pellizzari says he’s still drawing strength from the experience of racing alongside the Slovenian great. “I’m learning a lot from Primož,” he said. “After the stage, I watch him a lot. I really like the calm that he has before the start. And when he wants a race, he invests a lot for it. This is really good for me.”

That mentorship seems to have helped the young Italian maintain perspective. Though a stage win remains his dream, Pellizzari is keeping his ambitions grounded in the last stages.

“I would like to win a stage, but that will be hard,” he admitted. “I’m seventh in GC, so I’ll keep fighting. Also, top five can be good for me. But let’s see.”