On the Giro d’Italia‘s first summit finish at Blockhaus, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) cemented his status as the overwhelming favourite to win the race, soloing home to take the stage victory.
The Dane made the first big attack on the Apennine ascent, 5.5km from the top of the 13.6km climb, taking home favourite Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) with him. But a kilometre later, he was gone, accelerating away from the Italian and every other GC hopeful.
Thirteen minutes later, Vingegaard raised his arms atop Blockhaus, following in the wheel tracks of riders including Eddy Merckx, José Manuel Fuente, Moreno Argentin, and Nairo Quintana in doing so.
“Today we just wanted to go for the win, and I’m extremely happy that I could finish it off. My teammates did an amazing job today, and I’m happy that I could really pay it off,” Vingegaard said after his win.
“We kept it a bit more open to see when the moment was there. There was a lot of wind, and at moments, a lot of headwind, so it was a very tough climb.
“I’m definitely happy that I could take back some time. It was a good day for me, a good day for us, and just to take back time and take some time on my opponents, that’s a good day for us.
“For sure, Felix Gall is a big rival to me. I knew it already before the race. He’s a very strong guy who we really have to take into account.”
Despite Vingegaard’s record-setting ascent of the climb – his time ranks almost two minutes faster than the previous best – the GC gaps weren’t massive at the top.
Most major names finished within three minutes of the winner. However, the likes of Egan Bernal (Netcompany Ineos) and Enric Mas (Movistar) were major losers on the day, finishing 2:55 and 5:47 down, respectively.
There was more positive news for race leader Afonso Eulálio…
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