How Italy’s newest sporting superstar can shake up battle for Giro d’Italia glory

“The easiest bit… is keeping him grounded. The bigger problem is the Italian public,” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff as the Kimi Antonelli hype train continued to steamroll on. The 19-year-old Italian is now 20 points clear at the top of the F1 world championship standings and has won three grands prix in a row; his win in Miami last Sunday came on the same day Italian sport’s biggest star, Jannik Sinner , made history with a fifth straight Masters 1000 title, triumphing in Madrid.

While their individual circumstances are different – Antonelli is being chased by a flock of challengers including his own teammate George Russell and Sinner stands alone on the men’s tennis tour – it is hard to deny that Italian sport is having a moment. Sinner, a talented skier in his youth, no doubt will have watched on with interest as compatriot Federica Brignone won double gold at the Winter Olympics, and Laura Pirovano and Sofia Goggia won overall crystal globes. And over the last couple of years both the nation’s male and female tennis players have reigned supreme, winning the “World Cup” – the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup – three times and twice in a row respectively.

A helpful distraction, maybe, from the men’s football team’s inability to qualify for the more widely recognised World Cup. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say individual Italian sporting superstars are having a moment – and the country’s press will be hoping another could soon join their ranks. There hasn’t been an Italian winner of the Giro d’Italia since Vincenzo Nibali won the last of his Grand Tours there in 2016.

But there hasn’t been an Italian talent to rival Nibali in years – until Giulio Pellizzari. Now 22, the youngster was riding for the second-tier VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane team when he first made a name for himself, at the 2024 Giro. He looked certain to take victory on a mountain stage to Monte Pana, but none other than Tadej Pogacar had different ideas.