Visma relieved after brutal Giro stage 5 conditions: 'The riders are still shaking on the bus'
Stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia turned into a day of survival on the road to Potenza, with freezing rain, hail and low temperatures leaving much of the peloton fighting the conditions as much as the course.
For Visma | Lease a Bike, the main priority by the finish was clear: getting Jonas Vingegaard safely through a stage that quickly became more about avoiding trouble than gaining time.
“It was a really extreme day with hail, rain and cold temperatures,” sports director Marc Reef told Feltet after the stage. “Luckily we survived it in a good way. The riders are still shaking on the bus because of the cold.”
Vingegaard was kept out of difficulty throughout the day, despite the worsening weather and the growing tension in the peloton. Visma had riders around their leader when it mattered, and the Dane reached the finish without incident.
“Jonas was well protected,” Reef said. “He was cold as well, of course, but he got through it in a good way. He said he felt really good.”
Vingegaard himself did not linger after the finish, heading straight for the Visma bus to warm up.
The Dutch team had already prepared for a complicated stage before the weather made the race even more unpredictable. Victor Campenaerts was sent into the early moves to give Visma a presence up the road in case the race split or became difficult to control later on.
“We wanted representation in a bigger group to support later, so we were ready for every situation,” Reef explained.
That caution proved understandable on a day when the rain soaked the roads and the cold made handling the bike increasingly difficult. Crashes near the front of the race only added to the nervousness behind, with Igor Arrieta and race leader Afonso Eulálio both going down during the fight for the stage victory.
For Visma, it was another reminder of how little margin there was on such a day.
“We saw what happened in front, so of course you’re always a little nervous,” he admitted.
Vingegaard now sits 6:22 behind Eulálio in the general classification, although the race is expected to shift significantly when the Giro reaches the mountains.
Friday’s summit finish on Blockhaus should offer the first major opportunity for the Dane to start reducing that deficit.
Result: Giro d'Italia stage 5
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