Diego Ulissi was jubilant as he crossed the finish line in Monselice, and the UAE Team Emirates rider began soft-pedaling his way to the podium with his second stage win of the Giro d'Italia.

Brandon McNulty played a low-key role in the UAE Team Emirates celebrations, gently patting the stage winner on the shoulder and congratulating him, but he played a major role in setting up Ulissi's victory. The American strode at the front of the Maglia Rosa group in the last kilometer, but he downplayed his contribution to Ulissi's victory.

"We didn't really talk about it much beforehand. But Quick Step had that move covered, so it was simple," McNulty shrugged, "we hit it hard with 700 or 800 meters to go and he finished it off. It was as complicated as it was simple."

At the post-stage press conference, Ulissi was effusive in his praise of his young 22-year-old teammate.

"I put him in a good position at the last corner and asked him to sprint if he could. He was absolutely perfect, more than I could have hoped for. But he's a very strong young man with great legs, so I had no doubts."

McNulty was already convinced of that during Friday's breathless finale in the Euganean Hills. The American briefly lost his footing on the final climb, but caught up again on the other side.

"It was tough because I got swarmed a little bit before the climb, so I had to recover a lot, and then I had to catch up on the downhill. It was a super easy day, but after that it was like stress maxed out."

McNulty did not let up in this grueling final stage, holding 11th place overall. He was 2:45 behind Maria Rosa's Joao Almeida (Detusink-Quick Step) and 19 seconds back in the top 10. McNulty has a chance to move up in the overall standings as Saturday's 34.1km time trial passes through Prosecco country on its way to Valdobbiadene.

The results from the opening time trial in Palermo, where the wind conditions were not good enough to drop him down the order, will see him start stage 14 from the same spot as his rivals in the overall race.

"We just have to give it our all. In the first TT, the wind changes didn't necessarily reflect my efforts in the results, so I'm interested to see what happens when we all start at the same time," said McNulty, who has twice been on the podium in the under-23 time trial world championships. A tough climb up Ca del Poggio awaits in the early stages.

"I don't know much about it myself because I haven't seen it yet, but we've talked about it a lot and some of us have done some scouting. I know Mikkel [Bjarg] has run in Baby Jiro or something, so I've heard a little bit about it.

The Prosecco time trial will be followed a day later by another key day of this most uncertain Giro, the demanding mountain leg to Piacavallo. The exact future of this Giro is still vague due to the coronavirus outbreak and the risk of bad weather in the third week, but it seems certain that the next 48 hours will bring some definition to the overall standings. McNulty is not sure which of the weekend's double headers will be more decisive.

"A minute earned in the TT could easily be lost, but it's definitely an important day," he said. You never know when the race will end."