WorldTour
Tirreno - Adriatico visits Giulio Pellizzari’s Home
Stage 6 of Tirreno–Adriatico brings Giulio Pellizzari back to the roads where his cycling story began.
For most riders, Tirreno - Adriatico passes through landscapes that are briefly familiar and then gone again by the end of the day. However, for Giulio Pellizzari, Stage 6 of this year’s race carries a different resonance.
The penultimate stage takes the peloton into the hills of the Marche region, an area that Pellizzari knows not from reconnaissance rides or training camps, but from years spent growing up and learning the rhythms of cycling on these same roads.
Giulio Pellizzari on Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico
© Getty Sport
In professional cycling, familiarity is rare. The calendar moves constantly, races blur into airports and hotel corridors, and the roads themselves often feel interchangeable. Occasionally, though, the sport returns a rider to somewhere deeply personal.
Professional cycling rarely allows for a true homecoming. Riders spend much of the season moving between countries, unfamiliar landscapes, and race routes that blur together over time. Yet occasionally the calendar brings the sport back to places that shaped the riders themselves. When Tirreno - Adriatico reaches this part of central Italy, the race arrives in Giulio’s territory.
For him, the landscape is not just another race route printed in the roadbook. It is a landscape he has known since childhood.
Riding These Roads Since Childhood
“I rode a lot on these roads,” Giulio says. “I grew up in this city and when I was young I used the bike a lot just to move around, to go and see my friends. So I always used these roads with the bike.”
Those early rides were rarely structured training sessions. Instead, they were the informal races that often form the first competitive instincts of young riders.
“When I was young we used to do a lot of races between my friends,” he explains. “Like clandestine races. The finish line of our fake races was exactly where the finish line of the Tirreno stage will be this year. So it’s something amazing for me.”
He laughs at the memory.
The finish line of our fake races was exactly where the finish line of the Tirreno stage will be this year. So it’s something amazing for me
“I always won when I was a kid with my friends, so I don’t know if this time will be the same. I think it will be harder.”
For Giulio, the stage offers something more personal than tactics alone. These are the roads where the idea of becoming a professional cyclist first took shape, where long training rides stitched together the villages and climbs of the region.
A WorldTour Stage at Home
“It’s something crazy for me,” he says of the stage. “To have a WorldTour stage in my hometown is amazing and I think I will need some time to really understand what is happening. I don’t know if it will happen again in my career.”
Giulio Pellizzari in the leader's jersey after Stage 4 at Tirreno-Adriatico
© Getty Sport
The presence of local fans often transforms these moments into something different from an ordinary race day. Here, the roadside becomes familiar. Family members, childhood friends, and local fans gather in places where training rides once passed quietly.
“All my family will be there and a lot of friends are waiting for me,” Giulio says. “Maybe there is a little bit of pressure, but I think it’s more motivation. When you hear people on the road cheering for you, I hope it will give me more power.”
Within the race itself, the stage holds strategic importance as the event approaches its conclusion. The rolling terrain and selective climbs typical of this part of the Marche region often encourage aggressive racing, particularly with the overall classification still in play.
When you hear people on the road cheering for you, I hope it will give me more power
Tactics on Familiar Roads
For Giulio, familiarity may prove useful within the tactical rhythm of the race.
“Of course it helps that I know the roads pretty well,” he says. “I think it can be really good for me and also for the team. We have a super strong team here, so maybe we can play with different tactics to try to take the race.”
In the end, the dream scenario remains simple.
“My perfect day would be me winning, of course,” Giulio says. “But if that’s not possible, I hope one of my teammates wins. Anyway it would still be amazing for us if someone from our team wins on a stage that passes through my home region.”
For Giulio, the day brings professional cycling back onto roads he has known since childhood. The race may move on quickly, as it always does, but the finish line will stand where those early rides once ended, a detail that makes the day all the more special.
