OFFICIAL: Damiano Caruso to stay with Bahrain - Victorious as Sports Director while final Tour de France dream remains alive

Damiano Caruso will remain with Bahrain - Victorious after his retirement from racing, with the Italian veteran confirmed for a future Sports Director role on the final day of the 2026 Giro d’Italia in Rome.

The move keeps one of the team’s most experienced riders inside the structure beyond the end of his final season as a professional. Caruso had already indicated that 2026 would be his last year in the peloton, but Bahrain - Victorious have now confirmed that his next chapter will also be with the team he has represented since 2019.

For Bahrain - Victorious, the announcement is more than a farewell plan. Caruso has remained competitive deep into his final season, but his value inside the team has increasingly stretched beyond results. At the Giro, he finished ninth overall, took a podium finish on Stage 17 and helped guide Afonso Eulalio through the biggest three weeks of the Portuguese rider’s career.

Eulalio spent nine days in the maglia rosa, won the young rider classification and finished sixth overall. Caruso’s role in that race gave Bahrain a clear preview of the influence they want him to carry into the team car.

The agreement was signed in Rome on the final day of the Giro, confirming Caruso’s place in Bahrain - Victorious’ long-term structure before his racing career has officially ended.

“For me, this feels like a very natural step,” Caruso said. “I have been with Bahrain - Victorious since 2019 and over the years this team has become much more than a team, it has become a family.”

Caruso has spent recent seasons as one of the team’s most respected senior riders. His Grand Tour pedigree includes second overall at the 2021 Giro d’Italia, a Giro stage win, a Vuelta a Espana stage win and years of consistency across the biggest races.

“Throughout that time I have always tried to help the younger riders, share my experience and act as a bridge between the riders and the management, so in many ways this new role feels like a continuation of what I have already been doing,” he said.

Caruso’s next role also arrives after one of Bahrain - Victorious’ most encouraging Grand Tour performances in recent years. Eulalio’s Giro breakthrough gave the team a new GC reference point, while Caruso’s own top-10 finish showed he still had the legs and judgement to influence the race directly.

Milan Erzen, Managing Director of Bahrain - Victorious, said Caruso’s understanding of the team made the appointment a natural fit. “We are very happy that Damiano will continue with Bahrain - Victorious after he finishes racing,” Erzen said. “He has been an important part of the team for a long time and understands our culture, our riders and our way of working.”

Caruso also thanked the team around him for helping him sustain his level in what is set to be his final season. “This year they helped me believe in myself and pushed me every day to keep giving my best,” he said. “Their support allowed me to perform at a high level and reminded me how special this team is.”

Rod Ellingworth, Performance Manager of Bahrain - Victorious, pointed to Caruso’s immediate connection with the current generation as one of the key strengths he will bring to the Sports Director group.

“The big advantage is that he’s coming straight from the peloton,” Ellingworth said. “He’s raced alongside this generation of riders, understands how the sport continues to evolve and knows first-hand what is required to compete at the highest level today.”

That gives Bahrain a different kind of addition to the car. Caruso has raced through multiple eras, but he is not arriving in management from a distance. He is moving straight from the group of riders he will soon be helping to direct.

For a team building around younger leaders, that continuity matters. Caruso has already been part mentor, part road captain and part reference point inside the squad. The official job title will follow once the racing stops.

Caruso’s future is settled, but his racing career is not yet finished. The Sicilian remains committed to the rest of the 2026 season and still has one major target left: a Tour de France stage victory.

That would complete a personal set of stage wins across all three Grand Tours, adding the Tour to his Giro and Vuelta successes. “My career as a rider is not finished yet,” Caruso said. “I still have important goals for this season and I am fully committed to giving everything for the team until the very last race.”

He added: “I want to enjoy every moment of these final months in the peloton, make the most of every opportunity and finish this chapter of my career with the same passion and commitment that has always driven me.”

Caruso will move into the Bahrain - Victorious team car with no shortage of authority when the time comes. Before that, he still has one final chance to complete his Grand Tour stage-winning set at the Tour de France.