Eight riders started the Giro d’Italia for Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, as this year’s race kicked off with a historic Grande Partenza in Bulgaria. Fabio Christen, Mark Donovan, Chris Harper, David Gonzalez, David De La Cruz, Sjoerd Bax, Nickolas Zukowsky, and Matteo Moschetti took the start line in Nessebar, with four riders ultimately crossing the finish in Rome.

Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team came prepared for the challenges of the Giro, with a focus on stage wins for sprinter Matteo Moschetti, and for Fabio Christen and David Gonzalez to contest the stages with undulating courses. Then with full support from Nick Zukowsky, Mark Donovan and Sjoerd Bax, David De La Cruz and Chris Harper were going to try their luck in the general classification.

The race was challenging from the outset. On the first stage, sprinter Matteo Moschetti was involved in a crash just before the finish and was forced to abandon the race. Later in the Giro, crashes and illness further reduced the team, leaving just Harper, De La Cruz, Gonzalez, and Donovan for the final stages in Italy. Despite these setbacks, the team showed its strength and ambition, particularly in the second and third weeks.

The team achieved five top-10 finishes:

• Stage 4 (time trial): Sjoerd Bax 4th
• Stage 11: Chris Harper 4th
• Stage 13: Mark Donovan 5th
• Stage 17: David De La Cruz 8th, and Mark Donovan 10th 

Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team spent many hours in the breakaway during the Giro d’Italia, securing the Red Bull KM sprint on three stages. Nickolas Zukowsky was the first to bring home the prize on the stage to Blockhaus in the first week after an impressive ride. 

De La Cruz followed on stage 14, and Chris Harper went for a breakaway in the mountains on stage 16, battling the chasers and finishing 12th after winning the Red Bull KM sprint. David De La Cruz finished the Giro in 14th place in the GC, demonstrating consistency and determination in a hard and demanding edition of the Giro d’Italia.

Team Principal, Douglas Ryder says:

“Having such a crazy horrible start with losing Moschetti in the first stage, was a big blow for us because we truly believed, particularly coming into Milan, his hometown, and to Rome where he was third last year, that it would have been something we would really focus on. But we had to reset. It took a few days for the team to settle after the crash, so we didn't do a huge amount in the first week. But then when it came into the second week, the team really performed with Sjoerd Bax going fourth in the time trial, which was unbelievable. In Tuscany, De La Cruz was also 12th, so then it showed that we were kind of back on track. And then the very next day from a breakaway, Chris Harper also went fourth and a few days later Mark Donovan went fifth. So, the second week was good for us with two fourth places and a fifth. Into the second week, we lost Sjoerd Bax due to illness, which was a real blow to the team, particularly after such a good time trial. Then we lost Fabio Christen to a crash and a broken collarbone, and then Nick Zukowsky also took a crash in the Milan stage before the third rest day, where he was caught up in the crash and then abandoned two days later, which was really tough.

But we still fought on and I think we did a great job with Harper and De La Cruz, who were represented in a lot of the breakaways, to try to move up the rankings in the final week on the mountain stages. Sadly, we came a bit short in the last two days, stage 19 and stage 20, but De La Cruz and Harper fought hard right till the end. With only half your team left, it means that the workload goes up for each individual rider, so I think that hurt our potential general classification goals, but for them to finish 14th and 17th was a pretty good result with only four riders left in the race. So, all in all pretty happy around how the team performed. How the guys picked themselves up after each setback when they lost one of their teammates, and that shows the great spirit in this team. I think the whole staff group worked hard, and the team looked great all the way through. It was a good, consistent performance for the team that left us sixth in the team competition - in our second Giro d'Italia - and now we look forward to the next races coming.”

Despite a challenging Giro, Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team raced with intent, ambition, and courage, demonstrating that even with a reduced squad, the team can animate the race, contest stages, and achieve impressive results. 

Giro d’Italia by the numbers

• 8 riders started the race
• 32 staff members supporting the team across Bulgaria and Italy
• 7,500 km driven by the team bus (not including Bulgaria)
• 24 Pinarello Dogma F bikes
• 16 Pinarello Bolide TT bikes
• 66 Zipp road wheels (454 NSW, 202 NSW, 353 NSW)
• 20 sets of Zipp TT wheels (858 NSW and Zipp Disc Nine)
• 30 different Q36.5 items worn by David De La Cruz