“This could have been it” - Gregor Muhlberger reveals career fears before helping Felix Gall to Giro d’Italia podium
Cycling
Two weeks after the Giro d’Italia, Gregor Muhlberger sat down in the Cycling Magazine podcast studio to look back on a month that reflected several sides of his career.
The Austrian did not only help compatriot Felix Gall to second overall at the Italian Grand Tour. He also delivered a surprise top-15 finish of his own, proving again why he has become one of the most reliable mountain domestiques in the peloton.
Speaking on the podcast, Muhlberger reflected on the work behind Gall’s podium, the setbacks that almost cost him his career, and how much cycling has changed since he first turned professional. There was no hesitation when he was asked what he would remember most from the Giro. “It is definitely Felix’s second place,” Muhlberger said.
The hardest mountain stages, including Stage 19, stayed with him most clearly. He was also proud of the way Decathlon CMA CGM Team came through the race, with the group largely healthy, the plan holding together and the atmosphere strong from start to finish.
From winner’s ambition to Gall’s key helper
Muhlberger was not always cast as an elite domestique. In his younger years with Tirol Cycling Team, Felbermayr - Simplon Wels and later Bora - hansgrohe, he was seen as a rider with his own winning ambitions.
At the Tour de l’Avenir, he once finished second on a stage behind Guillaume Martin and ahead of names such as Sergio Higuita and Dani Martinez.
His later move into a support role came partly through temperament. “I am more the type who accepts that,” he said. “He says: okay, I will give my best, I will try everything.”
Muhlberger admitted that he often told himself he would fight harder for his own victories, but rarely fully committed to that kind of elbows-out approach.
At the Giro, those qualities made him an ideal rider for Gall. He protected his leader in the wind, organised bottles, stayed close in the mountains and helped give Gall reassurance in more technical or nervous moments. “I think a lot of it is mental,” Muhlberger said of his role.
His view of that work is clear. “When you have a leader who can ride onto the Giro podium, that triggers even more in me,” he said. “For me, that simply stands above everything.”
Felix Gall, Jonas Vingegaard and Jai Hindley on the final podium of the 2026 Giro d'Italia
“This could have been it”
Muhlberger turned professional with Bora - hansgrohe in 2016 and spent five years there before moving to Movistar in 2021. That switch, he admitted, was difficult at first.
The Spanish-speaking environment brought a language barrier, and shortly after the move he suffered a serious case of meningitis. That came at a time when cycling was changing quickly during and after the Covid period, with teams pushing nutrition, training and recovery to new levels.
Muhlberger felt he missed part of that shift because of his health. “That was when I realised: this could have been it,” he said, recalling the period when he seriously doubted his future as a professional.
While other riders were moving into a more exact, controlled era of preparation, Muhlberger was trying to recover and rebuild.
A changing peloton
Now 32, Muhlberger looks at the sport with a different perspective. Young riders are entering the WorldTour with a level of professionalism that once arrived much later. Many are weighing every gram of food, tracking every session and living for performance from their teenage years.
Muhlberger sees the benefits, but also the risks. He always needed a degree of looseness to survive mentally, and wonders how the new generation will cope with their first major setbacks after building their lives around performance so early. For him, the support around a rider will be crucial.
At the Giro, Muhlberger showed again where his own place in the modern peloton now lies. Once a young climber with personal ambitions, he has become a rider who can bury himself for a bigger goal and find genuine satisfaction in the work.
Gall’s podium was the result he will remember. Muhlberger’s own race, finishing inside the top 15 while helping deliver that second place overall, showed why his value to a Grand Tour team is now so clear.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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