Vingegaard is more than just a team leader for Giro wrecking ball and future Visma GC man Piganzoli

Davide Piganzoli has featured on our website several times already in the first two weeks of the Giro d'Italia, and that is no surprise. The 23-year-old Italian has emerged as Jonas Vingegaard's secret weapon in this race, riding entirely in service of the Dane at Visma | Lease a Bike. In these opening months at the team, however, Piganzoli is also making sure to keep his eyes open — with an eye on a bright future of his own.

As noted, Piganzoli's role in this Giro has been to support Vingegaard — that has been clear from day one. On stage two he launched his leader on a punchy climb, and on stage seven the Italian was outstanding as a domestique on a windy Blockhaus. Such was Visma's dominance on day nine that he even managed to finish third behind the winning Vingegaard.

His quality was there for all to see in the stage ten time trial too. Piganzoli was not even pushing himself, yet still came in faster than several GC riders. What has the first half of the Giro taught him about his own future at the team? IDL Pro Cycling headed to the mixed zone before stage twelve to find out.

"I am here as a helper for Jonas, but I also want to learn as much as possible from him," Piganzoli answered. "He is our big GC leader, so I am happy to take in as much as I can from him. In the future the team wants me to become a GC leader myself, so this Giro is a perfect opportunity for that."

Piganzoli had already been a GC rider at Team Polti VisitMalta in recent years, but riding in Vingegaard's shadow has naturally accelerated his development. "I can learn almost everything from him. It started already on altitude at the Teide, where I really saw how he prepares for a Grand Tour like the Giro. Jonas rarely gets stressed and is very relaxed — even on the hard days."

How should I train? How should I eat? How can I recover better? These are all things Piganzoli has been learning first-hand from Vingegaard ahead of and during the Giro. The preparation races too were ridden together with the Dane. "He sometimes takes me aside to explain something new. For me that is really wonderful — he is very important to me."

It is not just Vingegaard, but the entire Visma | Lease a Bike structure that has impressed Piganzoli. "The equipment, the Foodcoach… I am in the right place in the peloton."