Davide Formolo proved that he may be the next big Italian climber when the neo-pro finished an amazing second in today's big mountain stage of the Tour of Turkey. The result is made even more impressive by the fact that the youngster has just come back after suffering from chicken pox.

Having already excelled in the youth ranks, Davide Formolo got a chance to join the professional ranks when he signed a contract with the Cannondale team for the 2014 season and he proved his exceptional climbing talents right from the beginning. In the first Italian one-day races of the season, he emerged as one of the very best climbers in the elite peloton and expectations for the young Italian grew massively.

Unfortunately, he was set back by chicken pox that forced him to miss several race but the talented Italian is already back to full form. Today he took his first major result in the elite ranks when he finished a fantastic second ahead of riders like Davide Rebellin, Luis Leon Sanchez and Rein Taaramae in the hard sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey.

“Three weeks after I had chicken pox, I had no idea whether I was in good enough condition to climb but the final ascent showed me that it was the case," he said. "I was able to express myself after a sharp acceleration by Cameron Wurf. We really work as a team!

"Yesterday, Elia (Viviani) won and today I was hoping to do the same but Yates attacked strong and I was not able to close the gap. It’s still a great result.”