Davide Cimolai

Davide Cimolai (born 13 August 1989) is an Italian former professional road and track bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2025 for six different professional teams.

During his career, Cimolai took a total of nine victories, including the general classification and two stages at the 2019 Vuelta a Castilla y León, two stage victories at the Volta a Catalunya in 2016 and 2017, and a stage win at the 2015 Paris–Nice. He also operated as a lead-out rider for sprinters such as André Greipel, Bryan Coquard and Fernando Gaviria.

Career Born in Pordenone, Cimolai turned professional for the 2010 season, competing for the team until the end of 2011, recording a best individual finish of second place on a stage of the 2011 Tour of Turkey. During the 2011 season, Cimolai also won two medals at the UEC European Under-23 Track Championships: a gold medal in the scratch, and a silver medal in the madison with teammate Elia Viviani.

Lampre–ISD (2012–2016) Cimolai joined the squad for the 2012 season. Cimolai made his Grand Tour début at that year's Vuelta a España, where he was the team's main sprinter in a climber-stacked squad; he finished inside the top ten of a stage for the first time, when he placed seventh on the second stage. He took his first podium finish with the team at the 2013 Trofeo Platja de Muro, held as part of the Vuelta a Mallorca one-day races, being outsprinted by Leigh Howard and Maarten Wynants. Towards the end of the season, Cimolai recorded top-five finishes at the Brussels Cycling Classic (fifth) and the Grand Prix de Fourmies (fourth). He recorded one top-ten finish in 2014, finishing seventh at the Vattenfall Cyclassics, but he was part of Sacha Modolo's sprint train, when Modolo won two stages at the Three Days of De Panne in the spring.

Cimolai's first two professional wins came in 2015. He won the Trofeo Laigueglia one-day race in February, winning a group sprint of some twenty-five riders in Laigueglia. A month later, Cimolai took his first victory at UCI World Tour level when he won the fifth stage of Paris–Nice, denying a late solo attack from Thomas De Gendt with a sprint win in Rasteau. He finished as part of the front group the following week at Milan–San Remo, in eighth place – recording his best finish at a cycling monument. Cimolai's first win of the 2016 season – and the first win for – came during the penultimate stage of March's Volta a Catalunya, winning a bunch sprint into Vilanova i la Geltrú. He later recorded a second victory, when he won the second stage of the Tour of Japan in Kyoto.

FDJ (2017–2018) After five years with , Cimolai joined for the 2017 season to form part of the sprint train for the team's main sprinter, Arnaud Démare. Cimolai's first win with the team came at the Volta a Catalunya, where he won the opening stage of the race in Calella, prevailing in the bunch sprint ahead of Nacer Bouhanni. He ceded the race lead after the following day's team time trial, as finished more than one-and-a-half minutes behind the . At the Tour de France, Cimolai was the final lead-out man for Démare in the sprint, as Démare won the fourth stage into Vittel. The following year, Cimolai's best result – fifth place – came in the road race of the UEC European Road Championships in Glasgow; he was one of two Italian riders that were part of a lead group that formed in the closing stages of the race, and he successfully led out Matteo Trentin in the final sprint for the gold medal.

Israel Cycling Academy (2019–2021)

Cimolai joined UCI Professional Continental team for the 2019 season, as part of their sprint setup. He came close to his first win with the team at March's Tirreno–Adriatico, when he finished second to Julian Alaphilippe on a slightly uphill finish in Jesi. The following month, Cimolai ultimately took his first wins with the team at the Vuelta a Castilla y León; he won each of the first two stages of the race – the first of which after Carlos Barbero was relegated – and finished eighth on the final stage, as he won the general classification ahead of teammate Guillaume Boivin. After a fourth-place finish at the Eschborn–Frankfurt one-day race, Cimolai made his début at the Giro d'Italia, but his best stage result was fifth place. He then won the fourth stage of the Tour de Wallonie into Verviers in July, before recording eight top-five sprint finish results across the Tour Poitou-Charentes en Nouvelle-Aquitaine (two) and the Tour of Britain (on six out of the eight stages). He formed part of the Italian team that contested the road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, but failed to finish.

Cimolai's 2020 season resulted in no top-three placings; he rode the Giro d'Italia for the second year in a row, finishing fifth on the sixth stage into Matera, while he formed part of the breakaway group on the penultimate stage. At the 2021 Giro d'Italia, Cimolai finished second to Peter Sagan in the points classification, but failed to win any stages – his best results were a pair of second places on stages three (behind Taco van der Hoorn) and seven (behind Caleb Ewan). He also rode the Vuelta a España, but abandoned the race during the eighth stage.

Cofidis and Movistar Team (2022–2025) Cimolai joined for the 2022 season, having signed a two-year contract with the team. Over those two seasons, he failed to record any top-three results – often being used as a lead-out rider for the team's main sprinter Bryan Coquard – and his highest one-day placing was a ninth-place finish at the 2023 Paris–Bourges, just behind Coquard. As a result, elected not to renew his contract, and as a consequence, Cimolai was close to retiring from the sport.

He ultimately joined the for the 2024 season on an initial one-year contract, signing as a lead-out rider for Fernando Gaviria. He finished third on the final stage of Tirreno–Adriatico in March, before placing second to Caleb Ewan at July's Vuelta a Castilla y León. Cimolai remained with the team into 2025, as he signed a one-year contract extension in October 2024. Both Cimolai and Gaviria were winless in 2025, with Cimolai encountering health problems, resulting in hospitalisation and the near-amputation of his arm; he ultimately retired at the end of the season.

Personal life In 2018, Cimolai married his partner Greta Rover after five years together; however, the couple separated the following year. With partner Alessia, Cimolai is the father of two daughters.

In 2021, Cimolai disclosed that he had an eating disorder during the early part of his professional career, and that he had "threw away two to three years of my career".

2005 2nd Time trial, National Novice Road Championships 2006 National Junior Track Championships 2nd Madison (with Davide Calligaro) 3rd Individual pursuit 3rd Team pursuit 2007 1st Giro Ciclistico della Bassa Friulana 1st Gran Premio Ormesani 1st Medaglia d'oro Sportivi Castione 1st Giro della Romagna 1st GP R.E.M. Crema 1st Giro Delle Conche 1st Trofeo Orogildo National Junior Track Championships 2nd Individual pursuit 2nd Points race 2nd Team sprint 2008 National Track Championships

3rd Individual pursuit 1st Piccolo Giro d'Emilia 1st Tre Giorni Citta di Pordenone 2nd UIV CUP Fiorenzuola

2009 National Track Championships

2nd Points race 3rd Individual pursuit 3rd Omnium 1st Coppa San Geo 1st Trofeo Franco Balestra 1st Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza 2nd Trofeo Marco Rusconi 2nd Medaglia d'Oro Fiera di Sommacampagna 3rd Medaglia d'Oro Frare De Nardi 3rd Memorial Danilo Furlan 3rd La Popolarissima 4th Giro Nazionale del Valdarno 5th Circuito Internazionale di Caneva 5th GP De Nardi 7th Trofeo Edil C 2010 National Track Championships

3rd Team pursuit 1st Stage 1b (TTT) Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali 4th Circuito de Getxo 9th GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano 2011 UEC European Under-23 Track Championships

National Track Championships

2nd Team pursuit 6th GP Kranj 2012 9th Overall Giro della Provincia di Reggio Calabria 2013 3rd Trofeo Platja de Muro 4th Grand Prix de Fourmies 5th Brussels Cycling Classic 2014 7th Vattenfall Cyclassics 2015 1st Trofeo Laigueglia 1st Stage 5 Paris–Nice 8th Milan–San Remo 2016 1st Stage 6 Volta a Catalunya 1st Stage 2 Tour of Japan 2017 1st Stage 1 Volta a Catalunya 5th La Roue Tourangelle 2018 5th Road race, UEC European Road Championships 6th Paris–Camembert 2019

1st Stages 1 & 2 1st Stage 3 Tour de Wallonie 4th Eschborn–Frankfurt 6th Coppa Sabatini 10th Trofeo Laigueglia 2023 9th Paris–Bourges 2024 2nd Vuelta a Castilla y León 4th Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 6th Trofeo Ses Salines–Felanitx

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish