'I wanted to make it a hard final' - Gall dares to attack Vingegaard at Giro

The Austrian threw himself onto the attack with 2.5km of the stage remaining, just ahead of the steepest portion of the finishing climb. Vingegaard was the only rider to follow, with the rest of the podium contenders floundering behind them.

Gall repeatedly looked back at Vingegaard over the next 1,500m before his rival launched his winning effort just inside the flamme rouge. Although Gall was unable to match the ferocity of Vingegaard’s initial acceleration, he limited the damage well thereafter, crossing the line just 12 seconds down in second place.

“I’m super happy for sure to show again such a high level and to be only beaten by Jonas,” Gall said at the summit of Corno alle Scale. “The team did an incredible job again, an amazing job all day long. And it’s nice to have a rest day tomorrow, for sure.”

Gall signalled his ambition on the run-in to the final climb, where his Decathlon CMA GCM squad set the tempo in the pink jersey group. When Vingegaard’s Visma Lease a Bike guard took up the reins with 8km remaining, they looked to be preparing the terrain for his inevitable attack, but Gall surprisingly stole a march on him with his acceleration.

By that point, Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had already been dropped from the GC group, while riders like Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) were betraying signs of suffering. Gall suggested afterwards that his attack was aimed less at testing Vingegaard than at putting time into the rest of his podium rivals.

“I was not really planning to attack myself and then the steep part felt a bit a longer than it did on paper…” Gall said. “I wanted to make sure it was a really hard final for everybody and try myself. I was only beaten by Jonas, so I think it’s ok.”

In the overall standings, Gall is third overall, 2:59 down on pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious). More pertinently, he is 35 seconds down on Vingegaard, and the only pre-race podium contender still within two minutes of the Dane in the general classification.

Speaking to Domestique on Saturday, Gall had insisted that a podium place was his objective on this Giro rather than final overall victory. On Sunday, he acknowledged that he expected to concede ground to Vingegaard and his podium rivals in the 42km time trial to Massa on stage 10.

“It was also a bit in the back of my head today for sure to have a bit of a gap before the TT, which is not exactly my strength,” Gall said. “I’ve been working on it a lot for sure, but I think it’s more about managing it. I’m expecting to lose time on my opponents, but I hope it’s not too much.”