"Stage win or the final Top 5? I choose both" - Giulio Pellizzari the ultimate threat into Giro's decisive weekend

Giulio Pellizzari signed with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe this season and he has found the consistency to add to his incredible climbing talent. He came to the Giro d'Italia purely as a domestique for Primoz Roglic, but after the Slovenian's departure, his ambitions grew substantially in a matter of hours.

At the start of stage 16 in fact, the 21-year old was 18th in the overall classification. On what was thus far the hardest stage of the race, he was the strongest out of all GC riders in the climb to San Valentino and leaped directly into the Top10, cutting Isaac del Toro's lead by over minute and a half as well.

The following day he was on the move at the Passo del Mortirolo, and had a strong finale to the stage which saw him climb from ninth to seventh in the overall classification. With Egan Bernal and Damiano Caruso within two minutes, he could very well move up into the Top5 if he continues to have the same form.

“I don’t know Friday’s stage. I know the Colle delle Finestre, though, I did it a few years ago with the national team. It will be fun. Let’s see how the legs are, let’s hope everything goes well and we will definitely try," Pellizzari shared with SpazioCiclismo.

However his ambitions don't just lay in a potential move up the GC: “Choosing between a stage win or the final Top 5? I choose both. We’re almost there… Some of the other GC riders are more explosive, but now there will be long climbs, which are the ones I like. Let's hope they're like the one on San Valentino”.

Besides having the form and being quite motivated, Pellizzari will also go on to stage 19 with a fresh Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team who just won their first stage with Nico Denz this Thursday afternoon in Cesano Maderno.

“We're happy. We've prepared a lot for this Giro, unfortunately it didn't go the way we wanted, but we brought one home. Now we'll continue to have fun until the end. What could have been for me if I had had freedom? I don't know and we'll never know. And that's the beauty of it”.