Jonas Vingegaard took the Giro d’Italia general classification by the scruff of the neck on Saturday, with a decisive win on stage 14.
On one of the toughest stages of the 21 of this year’s event, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider attacked a group of favourites with 4.8km of the stage to go, riding to the final alone and taking the overall lead with seven stages to go.
Vingegaard’s attack instantly distanced Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), though, even with Davide Piganzzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially on his wheel. The Austrian managed his effort, dropping the Italian and finishing in second place, 49 seconds down.
Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third a further nine seconds behind.
Always touted as a decisive stage, it saw Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) cede the race leader’s maglia rosa, after the Portuguese rider took it on stage five. Eulálio spent much of the final climb close to the back of the favourites’ group and was dropped with 9km remaining, he battled on though, eventually finishing 115th, though he remains second overall. He’s now 2.26 behind Vingegaard, with Gall third, a further 245 seconds back.
The day also saw Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) slip one spot down the GC to fourth place, just ahead of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).
Vingegaard’s victory came on the back of a dominant performance from his Visma-Lease a Bike team. They were dominant throughout the stage, which began with a first category climb and ascended more than 4,000m over the 133km. They monitored the breakaway from the neutral zone until the last of a huge bunch of escapees was finally brought to heel just over 5km from the line.
“I think this one is the one I will remember the most today,” Vingegaard said after the stage. “We made a plan from the start with the team and we wanted to control the race and that’s what my team mates did. They did an incredible job all day, it was really impressive how they rode, I’m so proud of my team mates and I’m so proud that I can pay them back, it’s a super nice win.
“It’s always a bit of improvisation, we said when it got steep in the end we wanted to try, then Piganzoli, I almost didn’t have to attack today, he rode everyone out of my wheel almost, so that was really impressive,” he said of the winning attack.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Giro d’Italia’s third weekend began with its third mountain top finish, the peloton heading into the Alps for the first time for a short but incredibly sharp stage. The entire 133km stage was held around Aosta, in Italy’s far north west, starting in the city and climbing almost 4,200m over five classified climbs before reaching the finish at the ski resort in Pila.
It was uphill from the gun, the race heading straight up the first category Saint Barthélémy climb, a 16km ascent at an average 6% gradient. Visma-Lease a Bike were among those warming up on the rollers before the stage, and their controlling strategy was clear from the start, their yellow jerseys across the front as the flag dropped.
They initially allowed three riders up the road, but as the climb progressed a huge number of others escaped, Enric Mas one of four Movistar riders among the 29-man group, with triple stage winner Jhonatan Narváez among three from UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
From that group Narváez’s team mate, Jan Christen escaped, taking Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) with him, the pair building a lead of 20 seconds on the group. While Visma initially did a good job of holding the leading within 20 seconds, they allowed it to grow, the two leaders cresting the climb leading the other breakaway group by 30 seconds, the peloton a further minute down.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
That did not last long though, Christen and Van der Lee were both caught on the descent, while the peloton, with Vingegaard’s team still intact on the front, drifted out to 1.30.
The leading group comprised 23 riders when it reached the 10km flat after the descent, and they worked to expand their lead, which had grown to three minutes when they reached the intermediate sprint. There Narváez took maximum points, wresting the maglia ciclamino from points classification leader Paul Magnier, despite the attentions of the Frenchman’s Soudal Quick-Step team mate, Gianmarco Garofoli.
The sprint heralded the start of the second climb, the third category Doues. On the climb riders began to drop from the leading group, while others upped the pace. Stage 5 winner, Igor Arietta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took maximum points on the climb, briefly drifting off the front of a reduced group on the descent, while the peloton had dropped back further, their deficit 3.45.
Averaging 7.8% over its 7.5km, the Lin Noir climb came next and it was here that Visma-Lease a Bike went to work, Vingegaard’s five remaining domestiques beginning to erode a gap which had maxed out at 3.50. They didn’t do the work on their own though, the Bahrain Victorious team of race leader, Afonso Eulálio providing some assistance. Over the top, with 50km of the stage remaining, the leading group had lost some 30 seconds, Visma’s Tim Rex turning himself inside out to make the difference.
After only the briefest of descents, Rex led onto the day’s penultimate climb, to Verrogne. Though it was less challenging than its predecessor, Visma took more time out of the breakaway, whose advantage was only 2.36 as the race entered its final 40km.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The ascent of the climb to the ski station to Pila climb consisted of a relatively consistent gradient, but at 7% over its 16.6km, it was challenging enough. Of the 27 riders remaining in the peloton, five of them were from Visma-Lease a Bike, though their deficit was still over two minutes at the bottom. However, as soon as they began winding their way though the vineyards on the lower slopes, that began to drop, and with 13.9km left, it was less than two minutes.
With 10km to Einar Rubio (Movistar) instigated a number of moves from the diminished breakaway group, but, though each attack saw one more rider dropped, nothing stuck and behind them, their advantage dropped below 50 seconds, 8km from the line.
Rubio and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) were the final two breakaway riders to be caught, just over 5km of the day remaining, Davide Piganzoli the last of Vingegaard’s team mates to to take his turn. His final effort saw to Thymen Arensman (Netcompnay Ineos), before his Danish leader’s attack saw to the rest of his rivals with 4.8km to go.
RESULTS
GIRO D’ITALIA, STAGE 14, AOSTA > PILA (133KM)
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:53:01
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +49s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +58s
4. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:03
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, s.t.
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:23
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:35
8. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets, +2:08
9. January Hirt (Cze) NSN Cycling, s.t.
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, s.t.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 14
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 56:08:41
2. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2:26
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:50
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +3:03
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:43
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:22
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +4:46
8. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +5:22
9. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +5:41
10. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, 6:13
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