Diego Ulissi has announced that he will retire from professional cycling at the end of the 2027 season, bringing an 18-year career to a close. The 37-year-old Italian confirmed his plans in a message reflecting on the conclusion of his 2026 campaign with XDS Astana, describing next year as his eighteenth and final season in the peloton.
Ulissi thanked the staff of XDS Astana for their support during the year and singled out his selection for Italy at the European Championships as a source of pride. He said that, at 37, wearing the national jersey and helping younger team-mates had been especially rewarding. The announcement makes clear that he intends to race again in 2027, rather than stopping immediately.
It will bring down the curtain on a career that has included eight stage victories at the Giro d’Italia, the 2017 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and overall victories in races including the Tour of Slovenia, Tour de Luxembourg and Tour of Austria. Ulissi also enjoyed one of his most emotional days in cycling at the 2025 Giro, when he wore the pink jersey for the first time.
Ulissi says 2027 will be his eighteenth and final season
The news emerged in an Instagram post accompanying photographs from Ulissi’s 2026 season. After thanking the team, he described the pleasure of racing for Italy at the European Championships and of helping the next generation of Italian riders.
He finished with a playful reference to reaching adulthood: having completed his seventeenth professional season, he wrote that he was looking forward to some rest before his eighteenth and “FINAL” campaign. It was a light-hearted way of announcing a significant decision, but left little doubt about his intention to finish after 2027.
Ulissi turned 37 in July and has been racing professionally since 2010. His current agreement with XDS Astana was extended for 2027, allowing him to begin what is planned to be a final year with the team he joined in 2025. The precise programme for that farewell season has not yet been announced.
Eight Giro d’Italia stage victories define an Italian racing career
Although Ulissi has won across several countries and different race formats, his achievements at the Giro d’Italia are central to his career. His eight individual stage wins came in five separate editions, beginning in 2011 and continuing with victories in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020.
He developed a particular strength on uphill finishes that were too demanding for most sprinters but did not always suit the pure mountain specialists. The ability to survive repeated climbs, judge an attack and produce a fast finish from a reduced group made him a regular threat when a Giro stage offered that kind of terrain.
That speciality brought victories without requiring him to fight for the overall classification. He could follow the important moves, conserve energy when the route allowed and target days where timing and acceleration mattered more than long sustained mountain efforts. His results made him one of Italy’s most dependable Giro stage hunters over a prolonged period.
In 2025 Ulissi added something that had previously escaped him: the maglia rosa. Riding for XDS Astana, he finished third on stage eight, won solo by Luke Plapp, and moved into the overall lead. His move into the pink jersey was one of the stories of the 2025 Giro, making him the first Italian to lead the race for four years.
He held the lead for one day, but it was a significant milestone after so many seasons chasing success in his home Grand Tour. The reaction on the podium reflected what it meant to a rider whose relationship with the race had already been established through numerous stage victories.
From Lampre to UAE and a late-career move to Astana
Ulissi entered the professional ranks in 2010 with Lampre, having already won two junior road race world titles in 2006 and 2007. The Italian squad provided the foundation for a career that continued through its transition into UAE Team Emirates. He remained with the organisation until the end of 2024, spending 15 seasons under the same broad team structure.
During those years he became a fixture in Italian one-day races. He won Milano–Torino and the Giro dell’Emilia in 2013, and later added the 2017 GP Montréal, an important WorldTour one-day victory outside Europe. The demanding Montréal circuit, with repeated climbs and changes of pace, was especially well suited to his strengths.
His range extended into stage races, with the 2017 Tour of Turkey overall title, two victories at the Tour of Slovenia and the 2020 Tour de Luxembourg among his results. He was still winning significant races in 2024, taking the Tour of Austria overall before moving to Astana the following winter.
Lampre’s long history in professional cycling provides some of the context for Ulissi’s early years. When that organisation developed into UAE Team Emirates, the team gradually became one of the strongest in the peloton, with Tadej Pogačar taking on an increasingly central role. Ulissi’s own racing changed with the squad, balancing opportunities to win with the demands of riding alongside major leaders.
A final chapter with XDS Astana
The switch to XDS Astana for 2025 gave Ulissi a different role late in his career. The Kazakh team was trying to rebuild its position in the WorldTour rankings, and Ulissi brought a proven record of winning valuable one-day races and Giro stages.
He rewarded that faith with victory at the 2025 Giro dell’Appennino after a long solo attack, then took the Giro’s pink jersey weeks later. Both performances showed that he could still influence important races at an age when many of his contemporaries had already stepped away from the sport.
His 2026 results were more modest. Ulissi finished 46th overall at the Giro d’Italia, including third on stage 11, and recorded top-ten results at several Italian and Spanish one-day races. His message at the end of the season, however, focused as much on his work with younger riders as on his personal results.
That shift is understandable for an experienced rider surrounded by team-mates at much earlier stages of their careers. Ulissi’s knowledge of Italian racing, positioning before difficult finales and how to survive a three-week race can be useful even when he is no longer the team’s principal winning option.
One more season before Ulissi says goodbye
Ulissi’s announcement gives Italian cycling a year to reflect on a career that has rarely depended on being the biggest name in a race. He built his record through repeated success on stages and circuits that demanded judgement, endurance and a sharp finishing acceleration, rather than through a single Grand Tour challenge.
The eight Giro stage victories, a day in pink and wins in Montréal, Luxembourg and Austria add up to a substantial career. He also managed the transition from a young Italian prospect to an experienced professional who could continue competing against riders more than a decade younger.
There will be time during 2027 to look back at the individual victories and the races that best represent his career. For now, Ulissi is not saying goodbye to competition. He is preparing for one last season in XDS Astana colours, with his retirement scheduled for the end of 2027.
