'A big step up from the past' - Gall hits new heights as next Giro showdown looms

When Felix Gall arrived in the mixed zone in Chieti on Saturday morning, he put some gentle perspective on the plaudits he had received for his performance on the Blockhaus the previous afternoon. 

True, he had fared better than anyone anticipated against Jonas Vingegaard on the first summit finish of the Giro d’Italia, but Gall smilingly reminded reporters that he had still been beaten by the Dane. It would be premature in the extreme, he felt, to suggest he could beat Vingegaard to the pink jersey in Rome. 

“He’s the best, the Grand Tour rider we have next to Tadej, and I mean, it’s not like I beat him yesterday [Friday]. He was still faster,” Gall told us. “He’s a better time triallist as well. For now, it’s such a long way still to go to Rome. Of course, I’m really happy with how it went yesterday, but it’s a long way…”

Even so, Gall’s display on the Blockhaus was probably the best of his career to date. He had the courage to follow Vingegaard’s initial attack with 5.5km to go, and the nous to tap out of the effort once he realised he couldn’t match that initial onslaught. 

Most impressively of all, Gall had the strength to stalk Vingegaard all the way up the mountain, and he even reduced his deficit in the closing kilometres, crossing the line just 14 seconds down.

“The numbers I did on Blockhaus were a big step from what I did in the past,” Gall said. “I’m super happy, it was a really good performance, and I have really good shape. It’s just the start of this Giro, but it gives me a lot of confidence for sure.

“A stage like the Blockhaus suited me well, because it was a long day with a really hard finish, so I was hoping to be good – but of course not to be this close.”

Gall wasn’t always well positioned when the pink jersey group tackled the muri around Fermo in the finale of stage 8, but although he coughed up two seconds to Vingegaard, he finished alongside the rest of the podium contenders.

The Decathlon CMA CGM rider is third overall, 3:34 behind maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) and just 19 seconds down on Vingegaard. He is the only recognised GC contender still within a minute of the favourite ahead of Sunday’s summit finish to Corno alle Scale, where the 10.8km climb is the only obstacle on the 184km course.

The finale should shed more light on Gall’s prospects at this Giro relative to Vingegaard, though in Chieti on Saturday, he again downplayed his chances of challenging the favourite for pink. After placing fifth at last year’s Tour de France, Gall arrived at this Giro with designs on a podium finish, and that remains his ambition despite his showing at the Blockhaus.

“I think the podium is the big goal, also just for me in general,” Gall said. “I was top five in the Tour last year, so it’s the logical next step in my career to aim for a podium in a Grand Tour, which is, I think, a really ambitious and high goal. 

“I want to try to achieve it this year. The Giro is the first chance to do it, and then there’s the Vuelta later in the season. But for sure, it’s still a very long way to go, and everything has to line up.”