It was, in Jonas Vingegaard’s own words, “terrible.” But he is sitting pretty after the chrono, more or less.
The rider from Visma-Lease a Bike did not try to sugarcoat his performance after Tuesday’s unusually long (in recent years) 42-km individual time trial at the Giro d’Italia, where he lost three minutes to stage winner Filippo Ganna on the flat run through Tuscany.
Despite the result, Vingegaard still appeared relaxed after the stage.
“It was a long, flat time trial, and that’s not really my speciality,” he told Danish outlet Feltet. “I’ve never been super good at this kind of effort, and honestly, I think I rode pretty well today.”
Not only did Ganna dominate the stage, but Vingegaard also lost more than a minute to Thymen Arensman. Lidl-Trek’s Canuck, Derek Gee-West and Ben O’Connor also posted faster rides, while the Dane finished 13th on the stage overall.
Vingegaard pointed to the nature of the course as a major factor.
“A completely flat time trial gives bigger riders a huge advantage,” he said. “It helps to have more raw power on a course like this.”
Gee-West joked about the TT saying, that it was a “Really technical start, then I just stared ahead for a really long time.” He also said he was quite happy with his result. The national road champ now sits eighth overall and is looking forward to the next two weeks of racing.
As far as the Dane, he clawed back nearly two minutes on Afonso Eulálio, who managed to defend the pink jersey by just 27 seconds. It was an incredible ride by the Portuguese rider.
Vingegaard did admit he would have loved to leave the day in the overall lead, but that’s racing.
“Of course it would have been nice to already have the pink jersey,” he said. “Every day in that jersey is special.”
Still, he insisted his mood has not changed after what was clearly a terrible day against the clock.
“I’m in a good place right now,” he added. “I’m happy with where things are.”
Plus, there’s all kinds of leg-breaking stages remaining. Including Wednesday. Stage 11 goes from Porcari to Chiavari. The day’s race is just under 200km, but is littered with climbs. Will Eulálio continue his dream Giro and keep the pink? If Vingegaard takes it tomorrow, that means Visma will have to defend for 9 more stages.
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