GC contenders expect major Giro shake-up on third summit finish: ‘Today is the day Jonas takes the jersey’

With the amount of climbing on the menu, almost 4,000 metres of elevation gain, and the third summit finish of the race, Gee-West has no doubts that this could be a critical stage for the GC contenders. 

“Yeah, it's really something we haven't had yet in this Giro. Obviously, there's more to come in the third week, but this will definitely be a new test for all the GC guys,” said Gee-West. “I think it'll be a really big shakeup day because it's been quite a few days since a big separation has been made. So, I think everyone's kind of been watching this one.”

Finishing fifth on stage 10's individual time trial and as the second-best GC rider has given Gee-West plenty of confidence that his shape has been improving ahead of the high mountains. 

“Yeah, I feel good. I'm really happy with the TT. It was a nice confirmation that the legs are there, and yeah, today will definitely be different from what we've had so far,” Gee-West told reporters, including Domestique. 

“Super hard start, super hard all day. So, uh, very different from the other mountain stages we've had. Hopefully, the legs keep going in this trajectory because today will be a big test," said Gee-West.

That time trial performance moved Gee-West six places up to eighth in the GC, 3:34 off the race lead, making him one of the biggest movers on the day. 

Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) has defended the maglia rosa valiantly since moving into the race lead after stage 5. However, with only a 33-second advantage over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), Gee-West believes that this could be the day when the pre-race favourites strike out and move into the maglia rosa for the first time. 

“Eulálio has been riding amazingly, but I really think today is probably the day that Jonas will take the jersey from him,” said Gee-West. 

“Then from there, I think it's one of those days where guys could have shockers and drop out that you don't expect, and guys could have really good days that you don't expect. So hopefully I'm on the latter end.”

Meanwhile, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who has proven to be Vingegaard's main contender in the two previous summit finishes, expects a pretty straightforward scenario. Visma to take control and set up Vingegaard for a decisive attack. Then it will be up to the rest of the competition, including Gall, to try and react. 

"I expect Visma to control the day. A hard pace on all the climbs and then on the last climb they will just ramp it up until Jonas attacks, and yeah, I'll try to follow him," Gall told reporters, including CyclingPro.net.

The Austrian sits 4th in the GC at 2:30 from Eulálio and 1:57 from Vingegaard. However, Gall has only lost 33 seconds to Vingegaard across the two summit finishes so far, including bonus seconds.