A long illness has taken away Gianluca Pierobon, former Varese cyclist, professional from 1989 to 1998. He was born in Gallarate on March 2, 1967 and made a name for himself among amateurs wearing the colors of G.S. Biancorossi-Terziroli-Gemini - a team that included Francesco Frattini, Maurizio Molinari, Francesco Oliverio, Davide Goetz and young junior Stefano Zanini, coached by Aldo Sassi, who was experimenting with a new approach to cycling - before moving in 1988 to G.S. Passerini Gomme with which he competed in a strong Giro d'Italia amateur race and won the fifth stage of the Giro della Valle d'Aosta.

In 1989 he turned professional with Atala under Franco Cribiori and made his debut at the Milano-Sanremo. The following year he moved to Malvor, then to ZG Mobili and with that team he won in 1991 the second stage of the Giro d'Italia, an individual time trial of seven kilometers in Sassari, beating Spanish rider Marino Lejarreta and Franco Chioccioli.

A skilled climber, Pierobon was also an accomplished cyclocross rider and represented the Italian national team on several occasions. In 1993 he moved to Mecair-Ballan, then in 1994 he joined Amore & Vita with which he won the fourth stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a Aragon and then the opening time trial of the Tour of Switzerland in Yverdon-les-Bains ahead of Tony Rominger, who finished 4 seconds back, and Wilfried Nelissen. Pierobon finished that Tour in third place behind Pascal Richard and Vladimir Pulnikov.

In 1995 a new team change with Refin and victory in the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, the Porto Santo Stefano - Soriano nel Cimino stage at the end of a breakaway and a two-man sprint with Stefano Colagè. He also won the sixteenth stage of the Ruta Ciclista Mexico.

In 1997 he joined Batik-Del Monte making his Tour de France debut, achieving a tenth place finish in a stage and closing in Paris in 133rd place overall.

He spent his final professional season wearing the Kross jersey, finishing twelfth at the Giro di Romagna and the Trofeo Matteotti.

A memory from Davide Goetz, current president of Adispro, the association of sports directors: "Gianluca was an exceptional amateur - after being Italian champion in the youth, junior and elite categories - and a good professional, capable of winning a time trial at the Giro. Unlucky in life, he was a man of great temperament: I nostalgically recall the period when we lived together in Milan while he was preparing his diploma as a dental technician, it is a memory I will carry in my heart forever".