"One of the most beautiful races in the world..." - Giulio Pellizzari eager to take Tour of the Alps lead to the end

Giulio Pellizzari was the main favourite to win the opening mountain stage of the Tour of the Alps and he delivered. The Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe leader wants to leave a mark at the Giro d'Italia next month, but beforehand, he is looking to take the overall win that he is building in Italy.

"A crazy day. I came here two years ago and finished third as my best result. Last year, I finished second as my best result, and finally this year I managed to win," the Italian said in a post-race interview. "In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful races in the world. I have to thank my teammates, who did an incredible job. I was a little tired before the last climb, I wasn't sure how my legs were doing, but in the end I managed to win, thanks to them too."

It was a day with some climbing but in the peloton everyone saved their best legs towards the climb to Val Martello. With its steep gradients, it would be no surprise for there to be some gaps at the end, but with plenty riders coming from altitude or a long period without racing, surprises could happen.

Derek Gee was missing in action and Michael Storer struggled on the climb, opening way for Red Bull - who did not work with their climber group - to have numerical advantage over the rest. However this was because of the strength of each individually.

Lorenzo Finn followed the initial attack of Thymen Arensman and Michael Storer; Pellizzari bridged across later and attacked (only to be caught inside the final two kilometers) and then later on Aleksandr Vlasov also joined them. Whilst it wasn't a finale that allowed for much tactical play, the Russian's attack when joining the group in the slight downhill finish forced INEOS to close the gap with Egan Bernal.

From the wheel, Pellizari then took the sprint win. "Today was tough; we pushed hard as a team. I wasn't feeling great, but as a team, we had to give it our all," the Italian said to SpazioCiclismo. "On the last climb, I was really pushing, but I could see we were all a little worn out. In the finale, I have to thank Lorenzo and Vlasov, who launched me".

Pellizzari delivered the first win of his season however, at Tirreno-Adriatico, he already came close and had several impressive performances. "Everything went well. We had studied the finale this morning; we knew we had to start from the back. Vlasov advanced, Bernal closed, then in the final 150 meters, I sprinted, and luckily no one overtook me. Among my opponents, Arensman was especially good; he showed he's strong. There are still three tough stages, we need to recover. The Tour of the Alps is certainly not over yet."

There are no real gaps to his main rivals, but the youngster is in the race lead, and BORA looks to be the strongest team. That certainly makes him the man to beat at this point in the race, with tomorrow's third stage lacking the difficult climbs late on where ordinarily he would be put under pressure by INEOS and potentially Tudor.

Asked also about 19-year old Lorenzo Finn, who did a spectacular finale on a climb that looked to be too long for him, Pellizzari added: "I'm happy for Lorenzo, he was really strong and helped me a lot, he's good. We need to stay calm, we know there's a bit of a rush in Italy, but we need to avoid certain comparisons that might weigh on us athletes. We're going our own way; in the end, we want to win too."