Vingegaard eyes fourth summit finish win in pink on a climb Felix Gall forgot he had raced

Having already won the first three summit finishes, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) has outlined his ambitions to target victory on stage 16. The stage in question finishes with an 11.7km climb to Carì with an average gradient of 7.9%.

The biggest difference to the previous stages is that Vingegaard is now in the maglia rosa, something which only increases his ambitions to win again.

Speaking to Sporza ahead of the start, Vingegaard’s key lieutenant Victor Campenaerts signalled the team’s ambitions to target the stage.

During Monday’s final rest day, Vingegaard also unsurprisingly confirmed that he would like to win in the maglia rosa, and there are plenty of stages that suit him to do so, alongside the primary ambition of winning the race overall. 

Vingegaard currently sits 2:26 ahead of Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) and 2:50 ahead of Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM). 

The final climb to Carì featured in the finale of stage 5 in the 2024 Tour de Suisse. On that occasion, Adam Yates claimed the stage win ahead of his teammate João Almeida. Gall finished ninth on the day, but the Austrian doesn’t really remember much about the ascent ahead of his latest visit. 

“I should know, but I don't remember every single climb I did,” Gall told reporters, including CyclingPro.net. “I realised that I did this two years ago, but I can't really remember it, but I'm pretty sure I will recognise it today in the final on the last kilometres.”

Gall has illustrated his strength in the first three summit finishes of the race, finishing second behind only Vingegaard on all occasions. Despite his impressive climbing performances, his time loss in stage 10’s time trial means that there is still plenty of work to secure his first Grand Tour podium. 

“Jonas and his team Visma, they seem to be really a step above everybody else, I would say. And yeah, for me it's a fight for the podium, and it's still pretty close, I would say,” said Gall. “If you look at the result, it's going really well for me. I'm happy, but yeah, the gaps are not big, and so I just hope I can keep going like this.”

Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) has also highlighted how the 113km distance of the stage could influence whether the stage will be won from the GC group or the breakaway. 

“I think there'll be more of a question of who wants to try and chase the win from the GC fellows and if the break does come back,” O’Connor said. “But that also depends on how long it takes for the break to go because this is a very short stage today.”

Sitting in eighth overall, O’Connor is one of three Australians currently in the top ten overall, alongside Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in fifth and Michael Storer (Tudor) in seventh, the most represented nation in the sharp end of the standings.