"We are really only here to win the Giro with Jonas": Davide Piganzoli shines as Vingegaard's top helper on the Blockhaus

Jonas Vingegaard took the win on Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia, but the Danish star needed his teammates to set things up on the tough Blockhaus climb. Davide Piganzoli really stood out by doing a lot of the hard work at the front, riding uphill right into the wind. The 23-year-old Italian has been showing off his massive progress since joining Team Visma | Lease a Bike this past winter.

Piganzoli moved to the top level of cycling, the World Tour, this year, leaving the smaller Polti-VisitMalta team to join Team Visma | Lease a Bike. He said the team's overall plan was what impressed him the most, and it is safe to say the move has paid off, as Piganzoli has clearly taken a big step forward. He did not get his own results early in the season, but that is mostly because he rode Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya to help Vingegaard, who won both of those races.

"I am really much better than last year, my values have gone up by 5 to 7 percent," Piganzoli explained before the stage in words gathered by In de Leiderstrui. "On the second day I was already able to launch Jonas well and I hope to keep helping in that way."

Before the Giro started, veteran teammate Wilco Kelderman had high praise for the young Italian. Kelderman noted that Piganzoli is eager to learn and could even finish in the top 10 overall, placing him just below star climber Sepp Kuss in the team's lineup.

However, on the first two big mountain tests, Piganzoli has actually been the one making the biggest difference, rather than Kuss. When asked about this, Piganzoli made it clear that they share the job of being the final helper.

"Every day that can be different," Piganzoli said. "Sepp and I are here to help Jonas as much and as well as possible and if one feels better than the other, he will be the last man."

On the Blockhaus, Piganzoli was definitely feeling good. When he went to the front and pushed the pace, several big-name riders could not keep up and were dropped from the group, including Egan Bernal and Enric Mas.

Even though he is riding at a very high level, Piganzoli is not thinking about riding for his own spot in the general classification. He is fully focused on his job as a helper. "A personal GC is not an issue at all," he stated. "We are really only here to win the Giro with Jonas, he is the strongest rider and is therefore our only leader. We all work for him."

This strong team effort has been in the works for a while. Piganzoli and Vingegaard trained together at high altitude on Mount Teide earlier this year, planning to do exactly what they did on stage 7.

"When we were there, we already talked about the Blockhaus," he noted. "We were really looking forward to it and Jonas looks great.