# 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, Liquigas–Doimo, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec and Bahrain–Merida teams. Pellizotti now works as a directeur sportif for the Team Bahrain Victorious team.

## Career
### 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 Liquigas–Doimo' 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. Liquigas–Doimo 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 Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela team.
In August 2013, it was announced that after two years with Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela, Pellizotti was to join Astana for the 2014 season. However, Pellizotti would have only been able to compete from May 2014 due to Astana 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 Astana resulted in his contract with the squad being nullified, and Pellizotti was able to return to Androni Giocattoli–Venezuela 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 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 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 Mountains classification
       Combativity award Overall
    3rd Overall Giro d'Italia
       1st Stage 17

### 2010

    3rd GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano

### 2012

    1st 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

### Grand Tour general classification results timeline

| Grand Tour | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Giro d'Italia | — | 16 | 8 | 11 | — | 8 | 9 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — | 11 | 12 | 24 | — | 21 | — |
| Tour de France | — | — | 75 | — | 47 | — | — | — | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 60 |
| Vuelta a España | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | 50 |
Legend :
| — | Did not compete |
| DNF | Did not finish |
| No. | Results expunged |