Pellizzari and Hindley set their sights on Friday's first mountain test, and on Jonas Vingegaard?

General classification riders at the Giro d'Italia will be glad that stage seven has finally arrived. This Friday has been circled on every calendar since before the race began as the first real test of the corsa rosa. The summit finish on Blockhaus should reveal the true balance of power — and above all answer the question: can Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe actually trouble Jonas Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike?

Before the race, the team made no secret of their goal: to make this Giro genuinely difficult for Vingegaard. Giulio Pellizzari won the Tour of the Alps (including two stage victories) and said at the time: "I hope I'm not too far from him." In stage two he backed that up, countering Vingegaard at his first attack of the Giro.

"Nobody is unbeatable," Pellizzari has already said at this Giro. So IDL Pro Cycling made their way to the Red Bull bus after stage six for a Blockhaus preview with the Italian. "I'm certain that Vingegaard will attack, and we need to be ready for it when he does. No, I've never ridden Blockhaus before — Jai Hindley knows it better."

Jai Hindley — the team's other leader — was then named. The quieter, more measured but no less ambitious Australian, who won this very race in 2022. Speaking in the mixed zone before the stage, he said: "The stage to Blockhaus is going to be a big one. 244 kilometres, so I think we'll arrive at the foot of it with a good deal of fatigue already in the legs."

"The climb itself is hard. It's an exposed location, so wind and heat can both play a role," he analysed the 13.6-kilometre finale at 8.4%, which the riders will tackle on Friday. "It will be a real test — we'll get a good idea of who has the legs here to fight for the overall win."

Hindley confirmed that Red Bull are hoping to have one or two riders capable of doing that. It was precisely that ambition that led them to ride hard in stage five when Visma | Lease a Bike sent Victor Campenaerts into the break. "That's why we started riding. But once Campenaerts came back dropped, we could hand the responsibility back to the others."

Back to Pellizzari, who has already stated he expects Vingegaard to attack. The question the entire cycling world is asking: can the Italian follow him again? "I don't feel bad, and I'm happy that in the first six days I haven't crashed and haven't lost any time. We should be pleased — but from now on, a new Giro begins," he said with clear motivation.

"Of course I've been looking forward to this stage, ever since I first started thinking about the Giro last year when they announced the route. But above all we have to stay calm and enjoy it," Pellizzari added — with one important caveat. "If we can't follow Vingegaard, we also need to accept that the Giro is still very long."