Jonas Vingegaard stays safe but regrets tyre choice - 'I didn’t feel confident on them'

Jonas Vingegaard isn’t the pink jersey of the Giro d’Italia just yet, but he has been the figurehead of the race since it left the Black Sea coast a week and a half ago. That remains the case as the Giro hit the Riviera on stage 11, where Vingegaard finished safely in the peloton to maintain his second place overall, 27 seconds behind Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious).

The rolling terrain on the road to Chiavari was ripe for a breakaway to go the distance, and Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) duly completed a hat-trick of stage wins by outsprinting Enric Mas (Movistar), but the succession of punchy climbs in the finale also carried the promise of frissons among the overall contenders.

But although Thymen Arensman’s Netcompany-Ineos squad took up the reins at the head of the bunch in the final hour of racing, there would be no sparks among the GC men, who were content to roll home together along the Ligurian coast, coming in 3:24 down on Narváez.

“I think it ended up being quite a hard stage but with a profile like this, you could quite expect it,” Vingegaard said as he made his way through the mixed zone afterwards. “It took a long time before the breakaway went and from there, I think all the GC teams were quite happy.

“Everybody wanted to have a bit of an easy day, if you can say that. And I think they [Ineos] took control just not to let the break get too much time.”

Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas had suggested on his podcast that Vingegaard was “off the boil” at this Giro after his relatively subdued showing in the stage 10 time trial to Massa, and he even floated the idea that the Dane, like so many others in the gruppo, might be suffering from an illness.

Arensman was the most impressive of the podium contenders in Tuesday’s time trial, gaining 1:07 on Vingegaard and moving up to third overall, 1:30 behind the favourite. When Ineos hit the front in the finale here, one wondered if they hoping to discommode Vingegaard, but he shrugged off the idea after the stage.

“I wouldn’t say they tried to test anyone, or else the pace should have been a bit higher, I would guess,” Vingegaard said. “So yeah, I think it was more to defend.” 

After completing the time trial in Massa on Tuesday, Vingegaard had smilingly described the experience as “terrible,” but he reported no lingering effects from his exertions as the Giro wound its way northwards into Liguria. 

“I actually felt pretty good,” Vingegaard said. “My legs were good, but there are also many tough stages ahead in the second part of the Giro. It was a tough stage today, and everyone suffered a bit to get through it, but I’m happy with how we got through it.”

Speaking to Eurosport Denmark, Vingegaard confessed that his tyre choice was perhaps his biggest issue on the road to Chiavari, which featured sinuous descents off the Colla dei Scioli and Cogorno in the finale.

“Of course, I was very alert,” Vingegaard said. “Those were really tricky descents. I regret my choice of tyres today. I was riding on TT tyres, and I didn’t feel confident on them, but I didn’t skid or anything.”

Vingegaard should enjoy a more straightforward day on Thursday, with the sprinters expected to be the fore on the road to Novi Ligure.