Cesare Benedetti is part of German cycling history. That sounds big at first, but it's true. Because when today's only German World Team Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe was not yet called Bora or Hansgrohe and certainly not Red Bull, he was already part of it. When Ralph Denk launched Team NetApp back in 2010, the infrastructure of German cycling was modest. T-Mobile and Gerolsteiner no longer existed and Milram was facing its last season. Denk stepped up to form a legitimate successor to the German teams. And Cesare Benedetti was there right from the start.
Alongside the native Italian, who has held Polish citizenship since 2021, Michael Schwarzmann is the only rider from the then 15-man squad of the Continental team who was still racing in 2024. But while Schwarzmann left the team a few years ago, Benedetti remained an active professional until the end of his career. That was in August. "The team gave me the choice of which tour I wanted to stop at. I didn't have to think long about it - it could only be the Tour de Pologne," he said in an interview on the team's website.
From starter to climber to all-rounder Benedetti
Poland is a second home for Benedetti, who comes from Rovereto near Lake Garda. Perhaps even more than that: "Happily born in Trentino-Alto Adige and a proud Polish citizen," he writes on his Instagram profile. His love for Poland was probably also born out of his love for Dorota Gregorowicz - also a racing cyclist - whom he married in 2013. Their two daughters Janina and Karolina are the result of their marriage.
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25 years of active cycling - with the racing bike becoming more and more his focus at the age of twelve - came to an end in August. And just as inconspicuously for the TV cameras as Bendetti had spent most of his career. He managed one victory in 15 years as a professional. In 2019, he won the 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia in Pinerolo as a breakaway rider. Damiano Caruso and Eddie Dunbar joined him in the sprint. But Bendetti retained the upper hand. "I always wanted to be a rider for a top sprinter," Benedetti said in his farewell interview, perhaps that helped him that day. "However, I later realised that I didn't really have the physical requirements for it. In the U23s, I then developed more in the direction of a climber. And as a professional, I had to reorient myself again, because as a solid U23 climber, you're still a long way from the top in the professional peloton," he said, describing his career, which could ultimately be described well as an all-rounder.
What also characterises Cesare Benedetti's career is his description as a loyal helper. The then 28-year-old stepped up to this role, especially when Peter Sagan joined the team in 2017, which was then known as Bora-Hansgrohe for the first time. "He joined the team in the World Championship jersey. I knew that I could no longer afford to make mistakes with him on the back wheel. Peter Sagan pushed me forward both physically and mentally," said Benedetti in an interview. Video on the Road Code YouTube channelin which he spoke about his career.
Good result at the Tour of Lombardy saves Benedetti's career at Bora
Until then, Benedetti himself was sometimes obliged to deliver results. When he signed with NetApp in the Continental Tour in 2010, he arrived as a 21-year-old promising talent who had led the overall standings of the U23 Giros for a few days the previous year and then signed on as a stagiaire with top team Liquigas. However, no follow-up contract materialised there. So Benedetti came to Germany. He grew with the team, which was promoted to the second division of cycling in his second year.
The team and rider celebrated their first successes together. In 2012, NetApp won the team time trial at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali and Benedetti slipped into the overall leader's jersey for a time. The following year, he briefly shone in the green mountain jersey at Tirreno-Adriatico, before finally taking it home in 2016. The fact that he - and Sagan - were still wearing the jersey of the team, which now has Bora as its main sponsor, was thanks to a courageous ride in the 2015 Tour of Lombardy, where he finished 14th and thus achieved the best result in the team's history in one of cycling's five monuments. As a result, manager Denk quickly made room in the team for another rider. Benedetti's contract was extended, contrary to the original plan, and Bora started the new season with 21 riders instead of the planned 20.
Benedetti switches to the car and becomes sporting director of Red Bull's new U23 team
Just as Denk remained loyal to his rider, Benedetti also stayed with the team until the end of his active career. "Actually," he told Road Code, "I wanted to ride until I was 38, so one season longer. Then Ralph made me an offer after Strade Bianche that I didn't have to think about for long." From the autumn, he was to join the sporting director's team to prepare for his role in the new U23 team, the Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies, which was founded for the 2025 season. Benedetti accepted. "I used to be a very good sporting director in the U23 team. I want to give that back now."
The greatest successes of Cesare Benedetti
- Stage win at the Giro d'Italia 2019
- Part of the team that won the Giro d'Italia with Jai Hindley in 2022
- 14th of the Tour of Lombardy 2015
- Winner of the mountain classification at Tirreno-Adriatico 2016
- Victory in the team time trial of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali 2012 including two days in the overall leader's jersey
