"It was a Giro I’ll never forget for the rest of my life": Visma's newcomers Tim Rex and Davide Piganzoli leave a great impression

Team Visma | Lease a Bike never for a second displayed signs of weakness on their path to overall victory at the 2026 Giro d'Italia with Jonas Vingegaard. The dominance was even more impressive with the newcomers to the team taking up key roles during the race; Davide Piganzoli and Tim Rex. The Italian was among the strongest riders in the mountains, even taking up Sepp Kuss' spot as Vingegaard's right-hand man. Meanwhile his Belgian colleague who's made a Grand Tour debut the past three weeks spent endless hours working at the front of the peloton in the earlier phases of mountain stages.

"The team gave me the chance to show what I was capable of, especially in the mountains. The stage to the Blockhaus was the first stage where I could make a difference for Jonas," Piganzoli recalls in reactions collected by Visma | Lease a Bike after the Giro.

The first mountain test of the 2026 race was, with over 240 kilometers of racing, a proper test of each rider's preparations. At Visma, it was a first opportunity to see if there'd be any serious challengers to Jonas Vingegaard's GC victory claim. For Piganzoli, it was a debut in Visma's mountain train which he approached with notable respect.

"I asked Sepp if he could pull after me, so that afterwards he could tell me what I could do better next time. He said I was doing really well and that next time I’d be better off pulling after him, because he thought I was stronger at that moment. After that, we swapped positions. Jonas was very happy with it, and so was the team. That gave me a lot of confidence."

It was only the next mountain stage to Corno alla Scale which really unveiled Piganzoli's true potential as the 23-year-old tagged along with Thymen Arensman to finish third on the stage.

He then continued to perform consistently in key stages, eventually landing on eighth spot overall, and only a minute off the white jersey:

"I never would have dared to imagine beforehand that it would turn out like this. I was very close to taking the white jersey home with me. I was a bit disappointed at first that I’d just missed out on it, but I had never thought beforehand that I would come so close. I’m very grateful to the team for letting me go for the white jersey in the final stages."

"I really appreciate that people congratulated me on my performance. I think I’ve shown what I’m capable of over the past three weeks. I’m already looking forward to the next Giro."

Tim Rex has been part of a team victory in all the Grand Tours he has participated in his career at the moment. One in one. And the neo-pro rider was a crucial part of this success.

"It’s finally starting to sink in a bit now, but it’s taken a while. For me, it was a Giro I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I already thought it was very special to be able to ride my first Grand Tour, but the fact that it turned out like this makes it ten times as special. It’s exceeded all my expectations."

Rex had become famous also thanks to his "pain face" during the past three weeks, but the ability to surpass his own limits was unlocked by having an excellent leader in Jonas Vingegaard to give in everything for.

"It’s great to be able to work for someone like Jonas. You know in advance that you’re riding flat out for him, so when he finishes it off, it gives you a special feeling. As a team, we rode very strongly. We managed to put our plan into action every day."