The battle for the Giro d’Italia podium – Vingegaard and an unexpected contender
When Davide Piganzoli took control of the favourites’ group, the outgoing Maglia Rosa, Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), had already lost contact. And when the Italian pulled off, Jonas Vingegaard was practically already alone. A simple acceleration was enough to shake off Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), who spent the following 4.5 km chasing from ever further behind, eventually finishing as best of the rest, nearly 50 seconds down.
Behind, Davide Piganzoli crossed the line alongside the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe duo, Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari, who — together with Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) — are likely to battle for the podium spot that Eulálio may eventually relinquish… or perhaps not, because his race has been nothing short of heroic, and he still remains ahead of Gall.
Be that as it may, Vingegaard is now a solid race leader: a margin of two and a half minutes, with three demanding mountain stages still to come (Carì, Alleghe, and Piancavallo) to seal the deal. But first, Milan tomorrow.