'We had to improvise': Why Vingegaard went long to claim fifth Giro stage win

The Giro d’Italia was already won, but at the start in Gemona del Friuli on Saturday, Jonas Vingegaard confirmed that he would chase his fifth stage victory of the race atop Piancavallo.

So it proved. The Dane’s superiority has brooked no argument on this Giro, and he was in a league of his own again here, surging clear with more than 10km of climbing remaining. 

Only Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) could even dream of following, but the Austrian soon desisted and Vingegaard would win the stage by 1:15, breaking Marco Pantani’s 1998 record for the ascent in the process.

Vingegaard’s win means that he has won five of the six summit finishes on this Giro after his triumphs at Blockhaus, Corno alle Scale, Pila and Carì. His Visma | Lease a Bike teammate Sepp Kuss claimed the other at Piani di Pezzè on Friday.

“I’m a cyclist, I like to win,” Vingegaard said afterwards. “I want to win as many races as possible, and we decided to go for it again today. Today was the last day, in the mountains at least. Today everything would be decided, so we decided to go all-in for the stage and the boys did amazing again today. I had an amazing day also and to win five stages here and have a solid lead going into tomorrow is special for me.”

Despite his dominance, Vingegaard had been criticised in some quarters for a supposed lack of flair on this race, even if, in truth, his manner of victory was not all that different from his rival Tadej Pogacar’s two years ago.

Vingegaard dismissed the idea, however, that he had attacked from distance here in order to satisfy those calling for greater spettacolo. It was instead, he explained, an attack born from necessity, with Kuss paying a price for his efforts on Friday and Davide Piganzoli also not as sharp as in previous days.

When his teammate Bart Lemmen swung off with a little under 11km to go, Vingegaard figured that the safest way to control affairs was by attacking alone.

“We had to improvise a bit,” Vingegaard said. “Sepp said he didn't have his best day today, but Bart Lemmen was amazing. He did such a high pace from the bottom. The plan was to go later on the climb, but we had to change the plans a bit, and I had to go a bit earlier.”

Vingegaard will become the eighth male rider in history to win all three Grand Tours when he rides into Rome on Sunday as the Giro champion. He has a lead of 5:22 over Gall and 6:25 on Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

“Hopefully it will be a sprint stage, but you never know,” Vingegaard said of his expectations for Sunday. “The breakaway might make it again, but tomorrow we will enjoy the day, and we will also enjoy the evening tonight, even though it will be a long night with the flight to Rome, but we will for sure enjoy it.”