Vingegaard wants more from Giro before turning focus to Tour de France

Speaking to Domestique and other reporters on the third rest day, Vingegaard described the final week as the hardest part of this year’s Giro, with several decisive mountain stages still to come before the finish in Rome. The Visma rider refused to identify the stages his team has marked out, but he confirmed that the race will not be ridden entirely on the defensive.

“The third week is by far the hardest here in this Giro,” the Dane said. “There are also a lot of chances in the third week. We will choose our days. I’m not going to tell which days it will be, but it will not be completely defensively always, that’s for sure.”

That balance is central to Vingegaard’s Giro. He is in control of the race, with a lead of almost two and a half minutes over Afonso Eulalio, but his season is built around a bigger double. The Tour de France remains the second half of the plan, and Vingegaard admitted that he cannot afford to empty himself chasing every possible stage win in Italy.

“Of course,” he said when asked whether his recovery for the Tour played a role in his approach. “That’s also why I don’t want to go for every stage, because if you go for every stage, it might be harder than it actually has to be.”

At the same time, Vingegaard made it clear that caution will not mean passivity. Wearing pink has changed the emotional value of another stage victory. Having already shown his strength in the mountains by taking three stage wins, he now wants to win with the Giro leader’s jersey on his shoulders.

“I’m also here and I want to honour this race,” he said. “Now I have the pink jersey, and I also want to try to win a stage in the pink jersey. For me, that would be a special feeling. For sure, we will go for at least one more stage.”

Vingegaard’s confidence is backed up by his own assessment of his condition. A minor illness affected him around stages nine and ten, but he said it no longer has any impact. After his latest mountain display, he believes his level is close to where it needs to be.

“To be honest, I think I’m in extremely good shape,” he said. “We hope that doing the Giro will take me to the next step for the Tour de France. We still think I can improve towards the Tour, but I wouldn’t show up to this race in bad shape. I’m almost in my top shape.”

That was always part of the calculation. Vingegaard said the decision to race the Giro was made with July in mind, based on the belief that a first Grand Tour can lift his level for the second.

“I’ve seen in the last years that once I’ve done one Grand Tour, actually in the second Grand Tour my level has been higher than in the first one,” he said. “That’s also what we hope for in the Tour.”

For now, though, Vingegaard insisted the Giro is far from over. He named Felix Gall as the rival who has looked strongest on the uphill finishes, while warning that the race can still change quickly.

“The race is not over before it’s over,” Vingegaard said. “Everything can happen. I can have a bad day. I can crash. I can get sick. You never know what happens.”

His message for the final week was therefore clear enough. Vingegaard will defend pink, but he also wants more. Somewhere in the mountains, he is still looking for a Giro victory worthy of the jersey.