Giro d’Italia Stage 7: Vingegaard Wins on Blockhaus — But the Giro Is Not Over Yet

Jonas Vingegaard delivered on Friday at the Giro d’Italia‘s first summit finish on Blockhaus, but the winning margin was smaller than many anticipated.

Without a major rival like Paul Seixas or Tadej Pogačar, Vingegaard started this Giro as the five-star favorite, and he rode like it during the Giro’s longest stage.

After Sepp Kuss and Visma-Lease a Bike softened up the bunch, the Dane pounced with 6km to go. Italian star Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) bravely put up a fight, but the effort cost him.

Vingegaard kept piling on and gapped the Italian with just over 4km to go to solo home the victory.

“We wanted to go for the win and I’m happy that we managed it, after the incredible work my teammates put in,” Vingegaard said. “I’m proud that I was able to repay that work with a victory.”

Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) emerged as a surprise package in second, recovering late against gusting winds near the top to finish just 13 seconds back.

“He is one of the rivals, but we already knew that,” Vingegaard said of Gall. “He is very strong and we’ll be keeping an eye on him. I’m happy to take some time on my rivals.”

Former Giro winner Jai Hindley kicked to third at 1:02 back.

Overnight leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) started with more than six minutes on the GC favorites, and while the Portuguese bled time on the climb, his cushion was enough to keep him in pink heading into the weekend.

Vingegaard won, climbed into second and set a new record time up the Blockhaus summit, but perhaps didn’t blow up the race as much as many were expecting.

A handful of top rivals worked together to limit the damage — and keep the Giro alive.

How it happened

The expectations were sky high for the Giro’s longest stage at a monster 244km and the 109th edition’s first summit finale.

All eyes were on Visma and Vingegaard, to see if they were intent on blowing up the race early.

Red Bull took up the pace once the pack hit the Blockhaus, a deceptively difficult mountain in the middle spine of Italy’s boot. At 13.4km at 8.5 percent, the climb nudges steeper as it pushed toward the summit.

Canadian Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5) held out from the day’s early main breakaway before the “bigs” swept past with 6km to go.

Visma’s Kuss and Davide Piganzoli surged to the front with 8km to go to pressure everyone.

Enric Mas (Movistar), Wout Poels (Unibet Rose Rockets), Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) were among the early contenders to lose the wheel.

“I’m feeling better every day so if that continues for two more weeks, things will be looking pretty good,” said Gee-West, eighth on the stage. “I am happy with where I ended up and I started coming back on guys on the end. I paced myself because it was hard.”

Under pressure from Kuss, the front group was soon reduced to a baker’s dozen heading onto the steepest sectors.

Record speed up Blockhaus

Eulálio couldn’t hold the pace and wisely jettisoned out the back with under 6km go to pace himself toward the line.

That’s the moment that Vingegaard jumped, with only Pellizzari and Gall able to hold the wheel, but the Austrian couldn’t hang on for long.

The young Italian marked the Dane’s wheel, but Vingegaard kept tightening the vise. At just over 4km to go, the elastic snapped.

One look back on a right-hander confirmed the widening gap. Vingegaard was gone.

Gall recovered to reel in and pass Pellizzari, and Ben O’Connor bridged up, with a chasing group behind led by Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) trying to keep it close.

There was no stopping Vingegaard, but Gall recovered nicely to limit the damage. Hindley kicked to third at 1:02 back.

According to times compiled by Domestique, Vingegaard climbed the Blockhaus in a record time of 38 minutes, 26 seconds, more than one minute faster than the previous record held by Nairo Quintana in 2017.

And that effort came with gusting winds across the upper reaches of the barren summit.

Others also climbed faster, including top-5 stage finishers Gall, Hindley, Pellizzari and O’Connor, further proof that today’s peloton is going faster than ever.

Saturday’s rollercoaster finale in the 156km stage 8 from Chieti to Fermo could be fertile ground for a breakaway.

Eulálio is still a pink jersey placeholder, but Vingegaard is closing in fast and climbed into second overall.

The real GC Giro is finally underway, but at least it’s not over yet.

Giro d’Italia stage 7 results