Vingegaard makes it five at Piancavallo to cap crushing Giro triumph

Was there ever any doubt? Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) was again without peer on the Giro d’Italia as he soared to victory at Piancavallo on stage 20. The Dane attacked with 10.6km remaining to rack up his fifth stage win of the race, buttressing his overall lead still further ahead of Sunday’s finale in Rome.

Vingegaard will become the eighth rider in history to win all three Grand Tours when he collects the Trofeo Senza Fine on Sunday, and he will hope the victory augurs well for his attempt to topple Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France.

In Italy, Vingegaard has been dominant from start to finish and Saturday’s stage followed a familiar pattern. After his Visma | Lease a Bike squad set the tempo at the base of the final ascent, Vingegaard launched a rasping acceleration that carried him clear of the rest.

Not for the first time, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) was the only rider who even deigned to follow, but the Austrian could only last a couple of hundred metres before Vingegaard shook him off. From there, it was an exhibition, with Vingegaard coming home 1:15 clear to win the day and underscore his supremacy.

Gall, so assured on this Giro, again looked the best of the rest here, though he was joined on the upper reaches of the climb by Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and an impressive Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek).

The Canadian champion has improved as the Giro drew on, and he had designs on making a late charge at fourth place – or more – here. He couldn’t shake off Hindley, however, and Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) would also limit the damage sufficiently to save fourth thanks to a mammoth shift from his teammate Egan Bernal.

Gee-West and Hindley caught Gall with a little under 5km to go, but they were joined by Bernal and Arensman inside the last 2km, bringing an end to the skirmish for the GC places immediately behind the unassailable Vingegaard. 

Gall won the sprint for second at 1:15 ahead of Hindley and Gee-West, with Gall a further four seconds back. In the overall standings, Vingegaard will win the Giro by 5:22 from Gall, with Hindley third, Arensman fourth and Gee-West fifth.

Further down the mountain, there was a spirited contest for the white jersey between Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) and Davide Piganzoli. Vingegaard’s gregario couldn’t break his rival, however, and Eulálio attacked defiantly in the finale to take seventh on the stage and ensure he will carry the maglia bianca to Rome on Sunday.

At the start in Gemona del Friuli, Vingegaard made no secret of his desire to win a fifth stage of this Giro, but that declaration didn’t dissuade some enterprising escapees. Local hero Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) was among the early attackers, though his intention was to salute friends and family rather than spend a day off the front.

Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF), Axel Huens (Groupama-FDJ), Larry Warbasse (Tudor), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana) and Jack Haig (Netcompany-Ineos) forged clear soon afterwards, and they would build a lead in excess of five minutes ahead of the first climb, the category 3 Clauzetto.

Behind, Visma | Lease a Bike held the reins in the peloton on behalf of Vingegaard, and they kept steady tabs on the break’s lead, which stood at 4:40 when they hit the climb to Piancavallo for the first time with 67km to go.

Visma’s pace ramped up gradually on the first ascent of Piancavallo, and they stretched the pink jersey group accordingly, with Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) and Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) among those already struggling – but still hanging on – before they were even halfway up.

Vingegaard briefly stopped on the climb, seemingly to pick some debris from his front tyre, but the maglia rosa cruised back into position almost immediately. Nothing has knocked him off course on this Giro. 

Warbasse, Leknessund and Haig were the three remaining in front by the summit, where their lead had been slashed to just 1:20 with 53km to go. Behind, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) mathematically sealed the king of the mountains title as the remnants of the break took crucial points away from Vingegaard, though it’s not clear that the Dane was minded to sprint for the maglia azzurra in any case.

Over the other side, Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Ludovico Crescioli (Polti) scrambled down the mountain to join Warbasse, Haig, Leknessund and Huens at the front, and that sextet would come around to the foot of Piancavallo for the second time with a lead of 2:05 over the pink jersey group.

Vingegaard still had four Visma teammates for company at the foot of the climb, with Victor Campenaerts setting the early tempo before Bart Lemmen took over soon afterwards, and their efforts quickly slashed the bones of a minute off the break’s lead.

Stage 19 winner Sepp Kuss was surprisingly distanced during Lemmen’s turn, while white jersey contender Davide Piganzoli also lost contact with a shade under 11km to go. But shortly afterwards, Vingegaard went on the offensive, attacking with 10.6km to go. Gall followed for a couple of hundred metres before he swung off. 

Vingegaard was away and gone, picking off the remnants of the break and cruising to his fifth stage win of this Giro to confirm a crushing overall victory.