Stefano Pirazzi is known as one of the most aggressive riders in the peloton and in 2013 he got his just reward for his panache when he stepped onto the podium to receive the mountains jersey in the Giro d'Italia. However, the Italian wants to change his riding style to become a GC rider in the future.

In his first three years as a professional since turning the Bardiani team in 2010, Stefano Pirazzi often saw observers shake their heads in frustration when he launched some of his fruitless and futile attacks that were never rewarded. The Italian built up a reputation as one of the most aggressive riders in the peloton but started the 2013 with an almost empty palmares.

However, the many attacks have contribute to making Pirazzi a much stronger bike rider and in 2013, things started to change. Suddenly, Pirazz's many attacks were no longer easy to neutralize and while he failed to win his first professional race, he improved on last year's second place in the Giro d'Italia mountains classification when he stood on the podium in Brescia to receive the blue jersey as the best climber in the race.

The win was the result of a dedicated focus on a competition that suited Pirazzi perfectly.

"With the team we set this goal in the winter and since the first days of the Giro we focused on the blue jersey," he told Cyclingmole. "It wasn’t easy to keep it until the end because I had to use all of my energy to gain the points and I didn’t have the possibility to fight for a stage win. But I am very proud to become King of the Mountains in the Giro d’Italia, it was great for me and my team."

However, Pirazzi wants to be more than just an aggressive rider. He wants to win bike races and plans to change his riding style in 2014.

"It’s my way to race, but I know if I want to start to focus more on the finale and win, I have to attack less," he said. "It’s something I’m working on, it’s not easy but I hope next year to be more relaxed and have the patience to wait till the finale to attack."

In addition to winning races, Pirazzi wants to focus on GCs in stage races. He is already known as a strong climber but is actually also a solid time trialist who finished 2nd behind Marco Pinotti at his national championships.

"When I was a U23 rider, I always did good time trials," he said. "So I was confident that on a suitable course, I would achieve a good result and I did. This year I often worked on my TT position and I also made a solid performance at the Tour of Britain when I finished 8th against some of the strongest time trialists in the world."

He proved his strength in stage races when he finished 7th in the Giro del Trentino and hopes to build on that success in the future.

"This [riding for GCs] is my dream and my goal for the next years," he said. "I showed that I’m good in time trials and also in the mountains so the next step is to be competitive in the GC. First I want to try in short stage races and then in a big tour, first of all the Giro d’Italia. I hope to be competitive in 2 years."

With his changed focus, Pirazzi will also go to the Giro d'Italia with a new objective - provided that his Bardiani team receives an invitation for the race.

"As I said, last year was a great success but I didn’t have the energy to race for a stage win," he said. "Furtermore, there are a lot of mountaintop finishes in the 2014 Giro, so it’ll be hard to make points with early attacks. My goal will be to win a mountain stage and then we will see about the GC."

In 2014, Pirazzi will again ride for Bardiani where he is now one of the oldest riders on a roster that is mostly comprised of young riders.