"Last year I was just a helper": Giulio Pellizzari prepared to take on Jonas Vingegaard at Giro d'Italia

Giulio Pellizzari's rise in recent years has been remarkable. When he debuted at Giro d'Italia two years ago, it was a learning curve that ended up with a near-stage win, if it were not for a certain Tadej Pogacar. Two years later, Pellizzari will be heading to Grande Partenza in Bulgaria as one of the main podium contenders and hoping to challenge overwhelming favourite Jonas Vingegaard.

And while the race is only set to take off in two weeks' time, Pellizzari has only demonstrated to be at a high level during this weeks Tour of the Alps. The 22-year-old won both key mountain stages, enough to crown himself as an overall winner of the five-day stage race.

"The goal was to train on the long climbs and understand what I needed to improve," he said in an interview afterwards. "I was not 100% confident but a little by little I got better."

While the stage two uphill finish was rather chaotic with remaining breakaway rider Mattia Gaffuri putting up a strong fight. But Pellizzari added a sprint session to his preparation and moved into overall lead already on Tuesday. Then came stage five with an extremely challenging climb Montoppio being ridden twice. But Pellizzari left no room for doubters and claimed victory with a 30-second advantage over chasing group, more than enough to secure overall victory.

Suddenly, Pellizzari is no longer "one of many" GC contenders lining up for Giro d'Italia. He's that hot prospect many look up to as challenger of Jonas Vingegaard, on an equal footing with "big guns" Joao Almeida and Richard Carapaz.

That's a new position for the young climber: "It's really different. Last year I was just a helper. I started the race thinking, 'I hope I can perform'. This morning I had no choice, I had to perform. You can't just say 'I don't have the legs', you have to give a lot."

Asked about how the race affected his Giro confidence, he said: "The race has given us a greater awareness, we can rest a little safer now, a little more confident now that we did a great thing for a team."

"I hope I'm not so far [from Jonas Vingegaard]. I'm missing a bit the shape to be ready for the Giro. I have something to improve but for me, for the team and for the people watching I hope it will be open until the end."

Red Bull - BORA - hangrohe director sportif Christian Pomer confirmed after the stage that, with such legs, the aim will be to fight for a GC podium at the Giro d'Italia with Pellizzari, supported by former Giro winner Jai Hindley in the key mountain stages.

"I think he can be really happy with what he achieved here," Pomer said. "And also with how the team work together, and also how the supporting group work with the team. I think we can be confident to have also a chance to fight for the podium at the Giro."