Italian sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo, the 11-time runner-up in the Giro d'Italia sprint race over an eight-year period, took a long-awaited stage win in Verona midway through last year's race. Nizzolo will look to add another victory to that list this weekend in Hungary.

Nizzolo will start this year's Giro d'Italia as leader of his new team, Israel-Premier Tech, after three years with Qhubeka-NextHash.

The 33-year-old Italian, who initially showed promise, endured a tough spring season after breaking a bone in his wrist in Milan-San Remo.

"My main goal is to go for the stage, but if the first sprint goes well, I'm also looking at the points jersey," Nizzolo said at a pre-race press conference on Thursday. [Honestly, I think it's too hard for the sprinters," he added of the first stage, which concludes with a 5.5km, 4.2% hill in Visegrad. At least for me. At least for me. [But I have nothing to lose on the first day. I think everyone will be up for the challenge because there's the pink jersey."

On a stage where fast finishing all-rounders like Mathieu Van der Pol (Alpecin-Phoenix) were among the favorites to win, Nizzolo downplayed his chances but said he had been working on his climbing for the Giro.

"I worked on my climbing skills before the Giro. So that's one of our goals. We're going to climb better than anyone else and go for the hard stages." [The Giro is always special. You start with a certain feeling and that can change from day to day."

Nizzolo returned to racing in mid-April, taking part in Brabantse Pijl, Tour of the Alps, and Eschborn-Frankfurt. Although he has yet to finish in the top ranks, he feels he is in good shape despite missing out on a win and a podium finish in the past month.

"Performance-wise I am happy. I had a good feeling many times. I'm not so sure about the result. Not so much in the results. Hopefully we can change this in the Giro."

"I'm talking about the new lead-out train, which includes Alex Dowsett, Matthias Brandl, and Rick Zabel,"

"It's a good chance to get back together and I know they will support me at the highest level. I'm really happy to have them next to me."

"I'm really looking forward to working with them.

In addition to the challenge of coming together as a team and aiming for a stage win, the team is also under pressure to earn UCI points, which is crucial for Israel-Premier Tech's bid to remain in the World Tour.

The team has been plagued by illness and injury through the spring and is currently ranked 19th in the UCI team standings.

"Of course, getting points is one of our goals," Nizzolo stated.

"I've missed opportunities early in the season, with the crash in San Remo, the broken wrist, and the missed chance to get a result and score points in the classics.

"That's where we are now, so we'll do our best from now on."