Vingegaard asserts Giro credentials with hard-fought Blockhaus stage 7 victory

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) laid down his first marker of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, taming the slopes of a windy Blockhaus to win stage 7.

Vingegaard and Visma had made no secret of their ambition to win atop the brutal summit finish, and the Dane duly delivered in blowy conditions. 

Vingegaard made his first acceleration with 5.5km remaining, and it took the Dane around a kilometre to distance Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who was unable to withstand the Dane's effort.

Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who was the only other rider to initially respond to Vingegaard, rode his own effort once distanced and looked to be beginning to reel in the Dane. 

However, Vingegaard held strong and soloed to victory, 0:13 ahead of an impressive Gall in second and 1:02 over Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in third. 

Meanwhile, race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) dug deep to hold onto the maglia rosa. 

His seventh victory of the season means that Vingegaard has taken a positive step in the right direction in his quest to become just the eighth rider to conquer all three Grand Tours.

At the start of the longest stage of the 2026 Giro, a five-rider breakaway formed with 244km in front of them. The group included Jardi Christiaan van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5), Tim Naberman (Picnic PostNL), Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-VisitMalta), and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). 

Milan claimed maximum points at the intermediate sprint, reducing his 66-point deficit to maglia ciclamino leader Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) before eventually making the decision to drop back to the peloton. 

Meanwhile, Sevilla picked up more points in the second category climb to Roccaraso in his quest to defend the maglia azzurra.

Naberman was the next to be distanced from the breakaway, shortly after Sevilla had taken a wrong turn at a roundabout. All the while, Visma began to ramp the pace in the peloton on the run-in to the climb. 

Van der Lee attacked just 200 metres before the start of the climb, but was immediately countered by Zukowsky. Netcompany-Ineos led the peloton onto the climb around 2:30 behind, before Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took control. 

The tables reversed as Van der Lee caught and distanced Zukowsky with 8.5km remaining, before Visma pushed ahead of Red Bull, setting a high tempo for Vingegaard. 

With 8km remaining, the wind began to wreak havoc with the peloton forced onto the left-hand side of the road.

Enric Mas (Movistar) and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) were the first high-profile casualties, distanced together with 7.6km remaining due to the pace from Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli (Visma | Lease a Bike).

Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) was dropped with 6.5km to go as the breakaway was caught, and Piganzoli had finished his final effort on the front. 

Despite a valiant effort, Eulálio was distanced from the front group of around 10 riders with 5.6km to go. His focus was now on maintaining the maglia rosa with the help of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).

Vingegaard accelerated with 5.5km remaining, with Pellizzari and Gall the only riders able to respond. Gall was dispatched a few hundred metres later, while Pellizzari was able to withstand the first effort of the Dane.

The elastic snapped for Pellizzari with 4.5km remaining as he was distanced by Vingegaard before being rejoined by Gall, who immediately countered and dropped him.

Gall kept Vingegaard in check, but the damage had already been done. Pellizzari was caught by his teammate Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) with 2km remaining.

In the end, Gall continued to close the gap, but ran out of road as Vingegaard claimed the stage win.