Franco Pellizotti

Franco Pellizotti (born 15 January 1978) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2018 for the Alessio,, and  teams. Pellizotti now works as a directeur sportif for the team.

Early career
Pellizotti was born in Latisana, Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. During his career, Pellizotti was known as a climbing specialist and won Stage 10 in the 2006 Giro d'Italia, Stage 16 in the 2008 Giro d'Italia and Stage 17 in the 2009 Giro d'Italia. After finishing third overall in the 2009 Giro, he won the polka dot jersey in Paris as the best climber of the 2009 Tour de France (which has been cancelled), as well as named the Most Combative (Aggressive) Rider on Stages 9 and 17. At the start of each race, Pellizotti was seen making the sign of the cross and kissing a crucifix around his neck.

Doping ban
On 3 May 2010, Pellizotti's name was released by La Gazzetta dello Sport as being one of several riders under investigation by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for "irregular blood values". Pellizotti was reported to have had "suspicious values" on the eve of the 2009 Tour de France and request has been made by the UCI for investigation. This was confirmed later that day in a UCI press release. He was due to be one of ' team leaders at the 2010 Giro d'Italia, but was immediately pulled from the squad and replaced with Vincenzo Nibali. His team said they have faith in the explanation put forward by Pellizotti and are conducting a further investigation. Shortly after the end of the season, the suspension was lifted on the grounds of lack of evidence, and Pellizotti declared a wish to seek financial redress from the UCI. declined to re-sign Pellizotti after the 2010 season. Pellizotti's case reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March 2011. After asking the court for a speedy verdict, he was suspended for two years after it upheld the UCI's appeal. His ban lasted until May 2012. The Court also annulled all results from 17 May 2009, meaning that Pellizotti lost a stage win and third place overall in the Giro d'Italia and a stage win and overall victory in the mountains and combativity classifications in the Tour de France.

Return
Following the conclusion of his ban, Pellizotti signed with the team. In August 2013, it was announced that after two years with, Pellizotti was to join for the 2014 season. However, Pellizotti would have only been able to compete from May 2014 due to being a member of the Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible (MPCC), and that Pellizotti had previously served a two-year ban for a UCI biological passport violation. Further talks between Pellizotti and resulted in his contract with the squad being nullified, and Pellizotti was able to return to  for a third season, in 2014.

Major results

 * 2000
 * 1st Coppa Città di Asti
 * 2nd Overall Giro Ciclistico d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 6
 * 2nd Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
 * 2nd Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
 * 3rd Trofeo Zsšdi
 * 5th Overall Grand Prix Guillaume Tell


 * 2001
 * 1st Points classification Tour of Austria
 * 8th Giro di Campania
 * 10th Overall Deutschland Tour
 * 10th Giro dell'Appennino


 * 2002
 * 1st Giro del Friuli
 * 1st Stage 4 Tour of the Basque Country
 * 1st Stage 5 Tour de Pologne
 * 5th Trofeo Melinda
 * 6th Giro dell'Emilia
 * 9th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico
 * 1st Stage 6


 * 2003
 * 3rd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * 6th Trofeo Melinda
 * 8th Overall Giro d'Italia


 * 2004
 * 1st Gran Premio di Chiasso
 * 2nd Giro del Friuli
 * 2nd Coppa Sabatini
 * 3rd Overall Tour de Pologne
 * 5th Giro del Veneto
 * 6th Giro dell'Emilia
 * 7th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * 9th Giro di Lombardia


 * 2005
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * 1st Stage 2
 * 2nd Trofeo Laigueglia
 * 2nd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
 * 3rd Overall Tour Méditerranéen
 * 4th Overall Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
 * 6th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 8th Giro del Veneto
 * 9th Milan–San Remo


 * 2006
 * 2nd Milano–Torino
 * 3rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
 * 3rd Coppa Ugo Agostoni
 * 5th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie
 * 7th Trofeo Sóller
 * 8th Overall Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 10
 * 10th Clásica de San Sebastián


 * 2007
 * 1st Memorial Marco Pantani
 * 2nd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
 * 5th Overall Paris–Nice
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Points classification
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 5th Overall Giro del Trentino
 * 6th Giro di Toscana
 * 9th Overall Tour of California
 * 9th Overall Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 1 (TTT)


 * 2008
 * 2nd Overall Tour of Slovenia
 * 3rd Overall Tour de Pologne
 * 3rd Giro d'Oro
 * 4th Overall Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 16 (ITT)
 * 5th Clásica de San Sebastián


 * 2009
 * 7th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano


 * 2009
 * Tour de France
 * 1st Jersey polkadot.svg Mountains classification
 * Jersey red number.svg Combativity award Overall
 * 3rd Overall Giro d'Italia
 * 1st Stage 17


 * 2010
 * 3rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano


 * 2012
 * 1st Jersey italianflag.svg Road race, National Road Championships
 * 3rd Overall Giro di Padania
 * 3rd Gran Premio Città di Camaiore
 * 3rd Giro dell'Emilia
 * 4th Overall Vuelta a Burgos
 * 5th Trofeo Melinda
 * 5th Circuito de Getxo
 * 9th Gran Premio Nobili Rubinetterie
 * 10th Milano–Torino


 * 2013
 * 2nd Overall Route du Sud
 * 4th Overall Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda
 * 4th Coppa Sabatini
 * 4th Giro dell'Emilia
 * 5th Gran Premio Industria e Commercio di Prato
 * 6th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano
 * 6th Tre Valli Varesine
 * 8th Giro di Lombardia
 * 8th Coppa Ugo Agostoni
 * 10th Milano–Torino


 * 2014
 * 3rd Coppa Sabatini
 * 3rd Giro dell'Emilia
 * 6th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * 9th Overall Giro del Trentino
 * 10th Trofeo Laigueglia


 * 2015
 * 4th Giro dell'Appennino
 * 6th Gran Premio di Lugano
 * 7th Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
 * 7th Giro dell'Emilia
 * 9th Overall Herald Sun Tour


 * 2016
 * 7th Coppa Sabatini
 * 10th Overall Tour of Slovenia


 * 2018
 * 6th Memorial Marco Pantani