Having survived the hectic Bulgarian Grande Partenza of his first Giro d'Italia, Jonas Vingegaard and the rest of the peloton will fly to Italy on Sunday night, and it's a rider from the home nation he'll be counting on once la corsa rosa returns to its own roads on Tuesday.
Davide Piganzoli is the rider in question, the 23-year-old Italian who only joined Visma-Lease a Bike in 2026, but looks set to play a big role once Vingegaard tries to impose himself in the high mountains, having led out his first attack of the race on the second stage.
Vingegaard has experienced help among his seven-man supporting cast in the form of former Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss, Giro podium finisher Wilco Kelderman, and the ever-reliable and versatile Victor Campenaerts.
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But it was young Piganzoli who was entrusted with setting the race alight for the Dane on the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass, and the Italian duly delivered, setting a pace which lined out the lead group, allowing Vingegaard to test his rivals with an initial surge on Giro debut.
"I'm here to help Jonas the most I can, so yesterday was the first day that we could do something. We decided to try with Jonas, and that was really quite good," Piganzoli recalled to Cyclingnews at the start of stage 3 in Plovdiv.
Vingegaard pulled away from the group with only Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) able to follow, but a lack of cooperation in the finale saw them caught and passed by the reduced chasing bunch.
"I did an effort for him which went quite OK. We didn't want to take risks on the climb or the downhill, so Jonas made a late attack. They didn't arrive to sprint for the finish, but it was a good day for us."
Born and raised in Lombardy, Piganzoli is also no stranger to the Giro, having raced the past two editions, and with success, finishing in 13th and 14th overall while racing for former team Polti VisitMalta. But he's ready to step into the spotlight for Vingegaard's ambition on this occasion, and if the race goes as expected, the Dane will be on the top step of the podium in Rome.
"It's super nice to be there to help the team, and for sure I want to show who I am and what I worked for," said Piganoli.
"I'm here for Jonas. I want to do the most for him. He's a super nice person and always has a good word for everyone helping him. Yesterday, he was really happy about my performance and my lead-out for him. He's super nice to work for."
Piganzoli has long shown signs that this is the calibre of rider he could become, finishing third at the Tour de l'Avenir in 2023, an edition of the famed under-23 race which has come to play a big part in the Giro's recent history.
Last year's runner-up, Isaac Del Toro, was the overall winner, and second-place Pellizzari is one of Vingegaard's and Visma's main rivals for the 2026 Giro. All three are close and are now among several pros who live in the microstate of San Marino and train together around the area.
"We are really great friends, us, me, Giulio and Isaac, so it's always nice to share some time with them," said Piganzoli, who will have to produce more efforts as he did on stage 2 if they want to fully drop his compatriot and friend.
"Giulio is one of our biggest rivals, so we will have a special look for him and all of his team."
The first opportunity to do that will arrive on stage 7 to Blockhaus, with the 13.6km climb that averages 8.6% gradients set to separate the best climbers in this year's Giro. It's safe to say Piganzoli is looking forward: "This is an easy start for this Giro, and we are waiting for the big mountains like Blockhaus – then the next two weeks will be really exciting."
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