"Last year, we were all beaten before we started" - Damiano Caruso enjoying Tadej Pogacar-free Giro d'Italia

37 years old now, the wily veteran Damiano Caruso has been looking as good as ever at the 2025 Giro d'Italia. As a result, Caruso starts stage 17 as the leading Italian rider, 5th in the GC, just 2:40 down on the Maglia Rosa Isaac del Toro.

A runner-up at the Giro d'Italia back in 2021, Caruso has long been a consistent figure at the pointy end of his home Grand Tour. In 2024, he used his experience to help Bahrain - Victorious teammate Antonio Tiberi to a White Jersey win, but this year, the roles have reversed slightly, after a crash relatively early on put Tiberi further down on GC than many had expected. The biggest difference between the 2024 Giro d'Italia and the 2025 one however, is the lack of the all-conquering Tadej Pogacar, who dominated the Italian Grand Tour last year, winning the Maglia Rosa by nearly ten minutes and taking home six stage wins. 

"Last year, it felt like we were all beaten before we even started," Caruso admits in conversation with Bici.Pro. "With an athlete like Pogacar, there’s simply no room to manoeuvre. Not because you're lacking in creativity, but because Tadej is just one or two levels above everyone else. There’s not much you can conjure up against someone of his calibre."

As mentioned though, Pogacar is absent from the Giro this year. And with the Slovenian's absence comes an increased level of competitivity and excitement according to Caruso. "This year, however, the racing has been completely different — honestly, I’ve never experienced a Giro d’Italia like this before," he explains. "Every single day has been hard, demanding. Even on stages that, on paper, looked like they’d be more relaxed — where you might catch your breath and save some energy — we’ve been on the limit every day."

And despite Caruso sitting 5th and Tiberi in 7th, the more experienced Italian insists he'd happy sacrifice himself to improve his young teammate's ambitions in the overall. "I’d still like to believe that the podium is within reach for Antonio. We mustn’t lose sight of that. If we do, we’ll end up riding just for a decent placing, and that’s not why we came. We came here aiming for the podium," concludes Caruso. "Nothing’s changed. The main goal has always been to get Antonio onto the podium, and we’ll keep pushing for that. Of course, my own position in the GC isn’t something we can just throw away either, so we’re trying to pull off something quite tricky: get Antonio on the podium and myself into the top ten. We know it’s a big ask, but we’ve got to go for it — there’s really no other option."