Red Bull suspects virus may be cause of Pellizzari's struggles

Giulio Pellizzari entered the 2026 Giro d'Italia hoping to improve his Grand Tour results with a podium finish, if not challenge Jonas Vingegaard for the title. Those plans have taken a big step back on the race's second big summit finish stage on Sunday atop Corno alle Scale, where he lost 1:28 to Vingegaard and dropped three spots to ninth overall.

Pellizzari's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team suspects a virus may be the culprit, with director Sylvester Szmyd saying team doctors would investigate. "I can't say much about it yet, but it was clear that Giulio felt very bad on the ride to Corno alle Scale. He said that several times about the radio." No news has yet emerged on the race's Monday rest day but Cyclingnews reported that the issue is gastrointestinal.

The Giro resumes Tuesday with a flat, 42 km individual time trial at Viareggio. It's not Pellizzari's preferred terrain and further losses to Vingegaard would be expected even in normal health conditions. The rest of the week is hilly but Pellizzari could hang on in hopes of recovering before the next mountain test piece on Saturday with the 16.6 km climb to the finish in Pila (Gressan).