The Giro is already won, but a bike race breaks out for the podium

When Mauro Vegni was drawing up his last Giro route, he made a point of avoiding some of the excesses that have marked the third week in the 21st century. He resisted the temptation to include the Zoncolan on the Friulan leg on the penultimate day, reasoning that it would discourage aggressive racing, and the rugged terrain earlier in the week on the road to Carì and Andalo was rationed out sparingly.

The exception that rule was this Dolomite tappone, and Vegni’s instincts proved correct. The 151km run from Feltre was arduous, but it still produced one of the more entertaining stages of the race.

Much of the merit lies with Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Michael Storer (Tudor). They may have been forced to go on the offensive by the early aggression of Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) and Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5), but once the terms of engagement were set, they both figured the best way to try to move themselves up the general classification of this Giro was to get themselves up the road early and see what stuck.

Gee-West, in particular, was the day’s MVP. The Canadian champion joined the attacking on the first climb of the Passo Duran, and he stayed in the front group all day, taking second on the stage behind Sepp Kuss (Visma Lease a Bike) and moving up a spot into fifth place overall.

Although Gee-West has ambitions of a late run at the podium, he also wasn’t averse to multi-tasking here, putting in bigger shift than he really needed to do on behalf of his teammate Giulio Ciccone’s king of the mountains ambitions here - not least because the Italian offered him precious little help in return, even scurrying off in forlorn search of stage victory on the descent of the Falzarego.

Twelve months ago, Gee-West placed fourth overall at the Giro and he is now within striking distance of equalling that performance here. He enters the final mountain stage in fifth overall, 6:31 off the unassailable Vingegaard but now less than a minute down on a struggling Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos).

After struggling in the build-up to the Giro and then enduring a couple of ropey climbing displays earlier in the race, Gee-West has again demonstrated that he has one of the outstanding diesel engines in the business in this third week. 

A strong showing at Carì on Tuesday lifted him three places in the overall standings, and his sense of adventure saw him make more gains at Piani di Pezzè. Gee-West expended more than energy than most on Friday, of course, but he recovers better than most in a Grand Tour too. He won’t be daunted by the dual ascent of Piancavallo on Saturday.

It may be the case, however, that the race for the podium was already settled at Piani di Pezzè. Like at Carì, Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) looked a class above the rest of the man vying to stand beside Vingegaard on the Rome podium. Although they conceded a handful of seconds to the enterprising Gee-West, they still put more than a minute into a visibly flagging Arensman on the final ascent.

Gall, in particular, has looked the second-best climber after Vingegaard at every juncture on this race, and that impression didn’t change when he led the pink jersey home here and picked up four seconds on Hindley in the process.

The Austrian is not the most stylish climber, but he again looked pretty comfortable here, and he had three teammates for company until the Passo Giau to boot. He lies second overall, 4:03 behind Vingegaard, and he will be confident of holding that position – if not necessarily that time gap – at Piancavallo on Saturday.

Hindley made the most significant GC gain of the day by moving onto the virtual podium. It will be a tall order to make up the 1:01 that separates him from Gall’s second place, but Hindley has every reason to believe he can fend off Arensman and Gee-West to take the third Giro podium finish of his career.

In both 2020 and 2022, Hindley showed his powers of endurance on the final mountain stages of the Giro. He also has previous with Piancavallo, given that his break-out display as a Grand Tour contender came when he buried himself on behalf of Wilco Kelderman there during the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020.

The revival of teammate Giulio Pellizzari is a further boon to Hindley’s chances. One wondered if the Italian might abandon the Giro when he lost 18 minutes at Carì, but he was repurposed as a gregario here. After spending the day as a satellite rider in the early break, he dropped back to put in a stint of pace-making on Hindley’s behalf in the finale, and he will be motivated to go again tomorrow.

By contrast, it was a trying afternoon for Arensman, who was distanced on the short but steep final ascent to Piani di Pezzè. He had ample support from Netcompany-Ineos across the day, with Egan Bernal prominent and Magnus Sheffield producing his best display of a muted Giro, but the Dutchman simply didn’t have the power to match Vingegaard, Gall and Hindley in the closing kilometres, shipping over a minute by the summit.

In a rare post-stage interview, Arensman dutifully insisted that he will keep fighting until Rome. But while the more regular ascent to Piancavallo might suit his qualities a little better, it’s hard to see him recouping the ground conceded to Hindley. If anything, he might be looking over his shoulder at Gee-West. 

The podium order looks settled atop Piani di Pezzè, but it’s not set in stone just yet either. All sorts of wild and wonderful things have happened on the final Saturday of the Giro in recent years, and there is still a little scope for more of the same tomorrow. 

But as was the case in 2024, the race for the pink jersey is already over and has been for some time. The only question is whether Vingegaard will look to garland his Giro with another stage victory. He enjoyed as tranquil a day as the profile allowed on stage 19. After encouraging his teammate Sepp Kuss to help himself to a stage win, Vingegaard was content to track Gall and Hindley here, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be as passive on Saturday.

The Giro is over, but Vingegaard mightn’t be finished winning it just yet.