«Pellizzari always trains at 100 percent. But he is a rider, he wants to compete and this is his great passion.Winning races, being successful. And he's doing everything necessary to achieve that, whether it's nutrition, training, recovery, and so on. He's already very professional despite his young age."
Parla Dan Lorang, head coach of the Red Bull-Bora-HansgroheHe came to cycling at the invitation of Ralf Denk, after having trained Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug, colossal triathlon stars, winners of Olympics and world championships. The interview serves to delve deeper into Pellizzari's two sixth-place finishes at the Giro and the VueltaIdentical placings, but with different origins and logic. They brought him to the Giro because of the great condition he showed in Catalunya and without any long-term planning, while the Vuelta, on the other hand, was part of the plan from the start.
Two different approaches…
Especially different preparation times. We arrived at the Giro with just a few weeks of work, instead during the Tour there was a long period in which our team did not compete and we gave the riders time to prepare for the second part of the season. This was also the case for Giulio. For such a young rider, participating in two Grand Tours in one year is demanding. On the other hand, however, we knew that it would have been possible as long as he had enough time to recover.
A time that, if you look closely, was there, given that from the end of the Giro – except for the Italian titles – there were nine weeks until the Vuelta Burgos…
Exactly, a very long interval. We worked well at altitude, and even if he had gotten sick or had some small problem, there would have been plenty of time to compensate. This was our approach to respect his age and the timing of the preparation.. If we also look at what he did in the past, it was immediately clear that he is a rider capable of sustaining high loads, but you still had to be careful.
Precisely for this reason, have you ever considered not running the Vuelta, having done the Giro?
The option to also go to the Return it's always been in our heads. But first of all it was a question of seeing how he would come out of the GiroSo before starting the preparation, we did some blood tests and all the parameters to see how he had recovered and if it really made sense to continue with the plan. We know the great benefits of doing two Grand Tours and they are not limited to immediate performance, but also to building a career for the years to come.
And what did the tests say?
That was fresh. He had recovered mentally and was also at a good athletic level.You have to admit that he's a rider who really enjoys what he does and that makes everything easier. Sometimes the younger guys have difficulties, but Giulio has always been 100 percent and at that point we had no doubts in send him to the Vuelta.
What kind of response do you get from working at heights?
Very good. He likes the environment and the ability to focus only on work, but Physiology also responds. The improvement in performance is truly excellent.. We were at high altitude to prepare for the Giro and then the Vuelta, and in both cases it was a truly positive experience. He was never too tired or needed more time to adapt after coming back down.
Giulio has said several times that he felt stronger at the Giro than at the Vuelta. Is there any data to confirm this?
We can look at it in two ways. If we look only at the pure numbers on the total load, they were two quite similar Pellizzaris. Instead the peak numbers were higher at the Vuelta, which is something we also found with other riders. That is, the fact that in the second part of the season, according to watts the performance level was even higherBut for sure, at the Giro he was fresher and he felt it. He felt full of energy. So Even though he pushed harder at the Vuelta and was capable of better performances, he never felt as fresh as in springI think that's basically what he felt. But in terms of numbers, he made a step forward at the Vuelta.
But he also had a few difficult days, why?
I was about to say it. At the Giro he was more consistent, while at the Vuelta there was more fluctuation in his performances, Which is normal for a young rider. That's why you work year after year to achieve this consistency. At the Giro, he never had a really bad day like the one he had at the World Ball, but as I said it didn't surprise us.
After two Grand Tours in the same year, have you discovered anything more about Giulio Pellizzari?
I think his talent in stage races is no longer a huge surprise. Even though he's very young, he's already shown he can perform well in one-week and even three-week stage races. It was nice too see that he knows how to winThere are GC riders who can finish in the top five, but have probably never won a race or even come close. While they are young, we want riders to maintain the attitude for victory.We want to give him the opportunity to win stages as well, or perhaps even a smaller race, to maintain this attitude. Because Giulio has the ability, he has a certain explosiveness that allows him to do it. So he's well on his way to developing as a general classification rider.
Is this desire to keep the doors open the reason why you ran the Liège before the Giro?
He was coming from the heights, and when you're up there, you can't always do really challenging sessions. So we used Liège to have the high intensity and also to make him try a great classicWe won't limit ourselves to just planning stage races with him; he's too young for that. Taking part in stage races and one-day races is beneficial for its development. Pogacar and Vingegaard also know how to win stages and this ability is needed.
Two weeks after the Vuelta, now in nine days, Pellizzari will race the World Championships. How are you working towards that?
It's a mix. Normally you would say that You just have to recover somehow and then be on the starting line. But if we had done that, there would also have been a great risk of getting sick, because the stress goes down and then the body gets sick. So, once the Vuelta was over, on the one hand there was a mix between giving some stimuli, so a bit of intensity, and preparing for the journey.On the other hand, it's about working to be fresh on the starting line.
Do you think it can do any good?
As a team, we don't expect great results. Wearing the blue jersey is his desire and we see it as a development for his future career.He's already accomplished a lot this year, so he should enjoy the experience and anything more will be a bonus.
Giulio is a climber, but we always see him in the saddle, even on the steepest climbs. Should he work more on his out-of-the-saddle moves?
I don't think so, because if you think about it, Pogacar handles himself exactly the same way. He went from getting out of the saddle often to staying in it more and more.I know it's not that easy (smiles, ed.), but we try to help riders develop by offering them a wide range of options, so they can get up from the saddle and also climb from seated at different cadences. It's something we can implement in training, but at the moment it is not a limiting factor. In fact, being able to produce that power while remaining seated in the saddle is quite a strong point. Because you can save a little more energy. So I don't see it as a problem.
Last question: what do you think of our Pellizzari among his teammates?
From the first contact, it really seemed an intelligent boy who is well integrated into the team, but also capable of making his voice heard. He's a true cyclist, he carries tradition with him and he loves the sport. He already has his own personality. He accepts or absorbs the experience he gains from the greats, like Roglic or Hindley. He looks around and tries to learn from everyoneAnd I think that's what champions do when they're young. They try to get as much as possible from others. And he doesn't mind helping a teammate; he always acts in the team's favor. If you give him a role, he will play it to the best of his ability.That's why he already has a great reputation on the team. And that's why he's a great addition to our squad.
