After two seasons away, Basque climber Pello Bilbao will be heading back to the Giro d’Italia in 2025 as his Bahrain Victorious team look to bounce back from a 2024 season which fell shy of their own expectations.
Bahrain Victorious achieved 13 wins in 2024, the third-lowest total in their history, with four coming at WorldTour level but crucially none in a Grand Tour, which had become fertile ground for the team over the past few years. The team had won six Grand Tour stages the preceding season and had twelve wins in the WorldTour.
Bilbao will be one of the most experienced members of a youthful team in 2025, with half of the riders below the age of 25. Although disappointed at how the team had fared this season, he is confident that they can turn things around next year.
"The timer is now at zero ," Bilbao told Revelo at a team training camp this week. "The mood within the team is much better. The lack of results made us feel a bit stressed last year and we have forgotten that and can concentrate on working towards what is coming.
"Of course, this season has been disappointing compared to the previous one," he said. "I would say that, as a unit, in 2023 we performed above expectations and everything went our way. Last year, on the other hand, we suffered quite a few problems, and very important riders were injured or ill at key moments of the campaign."
Bahrain Victorious have brought in a raft of emerging talent ahead of the 2025 season, with nine new signings in total. The stand-out among them is Frenchman Lenny Martinez from Groupama-FDJ, around whom the team is building their Tour de France plans. Former Ineos Grenadiers Manager Rod Ellingworth has been brought in to steer Martinez’s tilt at La Grande Boucle.
It’s undecided as to whether Bilbao will also be part of those Tour plans for 2025. The 33-year-old won a stage at the 2023 Tour de France, but his main focus for the 2025 season will be a race which he believes suits him the best.
"I'm really motivated to be back at the Giro," Bilbao said. "It's the Grand Tour where I feel most comfortable; I'd almost say I'm in my element.”
In 2022, Bilbao finished fifth at the Giro d’Italia, his best general classification result in a Grand Tour. Three years earlier, he won stages 7 and 20 of the 2019 race. Bilbao suggested that he may not chase the GC at the 2025 Giro as his first priority, but will look to play a free hand for stage wins.
“The Tour has given me a lot; the stage win two years ago probably gave me the strongest emotions I've ever experienced in cycling,” he said.
“Even so, the Giro has always been special to me and I see that it's a race that can give me more opportunities to ride my way…by playing a second fiddle, moving from a distance without being tied to the general classification and looking for stage wins."
Bilbao took just one win in 2024, stage four of the Tour of Slovenia, his leanest return since the pandemic-hit 2020 season. He also achieved podium placings at the UAE Tour, Tour of Slovenia and GP Montreal.
He said a lack of consistency due to several bouts of illness throughout the year put paid to his chances of better results. He will look to overcome those setbacks and take a clean run at things for 2025.
“As for me, I want to change what didn't work," he said. "I lacked that continuity of not suffering physical problems, of not falling ill every now and then. And the thing is that cyclists are very delicate in that sense, because we expose ourselves to many risks.
"It's almost a miracle to complete a season without setbacks and to be able to take advantage of your physical condition in each race. This year I haven't managed it and, besides, when I was at my best level, I lacked that instinct to fine-tune my shot and shine."
