Gall rises to ambitions of Giro podium: 'A lot of things had to come together'

Behind the dominant force that has been Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), Felix Gall has proved his mettle in the mountains, consistently being the only rider to even dare to respond to Vingegaard’s vicious accelerations. 

The penultimate stage on the slopes of Piancavallo was no different as Gall hugged the wheel of Vingegaard when the Dane struck out for his fifth stage win of this Giro. 

Gall once more would have to relent, and would eventually be joined by Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek). 

The Netcompany Ineos duo of Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal also bridged across, and in the final dash to the line, Gall finished as the best of the rest behind Vingegaard, as he had done so in the previous mountain tests. 

“I was sitting then on Jai [Hindley] and Derek [Gee-West’s] wheel, and then I did a good sprint again, and I mean the team was again super good,” Gall told reporters, including CyclingPro.net. 

“We can be so proud of what we did here these three weeks, and I think everybody, every single one of us, really stepped up and progressed a lot.”

The Austrian emphasised the importance of the team spirit within the Decathlon camp with the likes of Gregor Mühlberger, Callum Scotson and Johannes Staune-Mittet ever-present alongside Gall in the mountains. 

“Yeah, it was really impressive. It’s such a nice group here, like from the beginning already,” said Gall. “Of course, it's easy when you're performing to have a good atmosphere on the team, but it was I would say from the beginning, we started with a really good energy into this Grand Tour.”

One stage away from finishing runner-up at a Grand Tour for the first time, Gall expressed his satisfaction, particularly as he and the team believed that a podium was possible before the race kicked off in Bulgaria.

“We went into this Giro with the objective of a podium, and I knew it was possible but also that a lot of things had to come together,” said Gall. 

“For sure, we did a lot of things right in the preparation, I think physically maybe just a little bit better than usual, and then the other circumstances were also in my favour,” explained Gall. 

“We also had no bad luck, no crash, more or less no sickness, and yeah, it was pretty much perfect, I would say.”

Gall was asked if the Giro could mean that Vingegaard arrives at the Tour lower in energy than ideally expected, and if this could help his teammate Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM). 

However, the Austrian brushed off any suggestions that the Dane won’t be on the start line in Barcelona in his best shape. 

“I mean, that would be nice, no. Yeah, that was actually the whole plan, you know,” Gall joked. “But I'm not sure how much he really worried about me here, Jonas. Like I already said a few times, he is clearly on a different level”

While attention for Vingegaard and co turns quickly towards the start of the Tour de France on July 4, Gall will take a well-earned break before the Austrian builds up his preparations for the Vuelta a España which begins on August 22. 

“Next is a few days off the bike. I'm not going to touch the bike for sure for a week now, and yeah, I mean that's also the luxury now that I have. I am not doing the Tour so I can really recover and then come back for the Vuelta,” said Gall.