Jonas Vingegaard just vaulted several echelons forward in the Giro d\u2019Italia rankings and he didn\u2019t even turn a pedal.<\/p>\n
The Dane\u2019s path to victory on debut became even clearer Monday when top rival Jo\u00e3o Almeida and GC veteran Mikel Landa both pulled out of the corsa rosa.<\/em><\/p>\n News also emerged Monday that former Giro winner and last year\u2019s third-place finisher Richard Carapaz may be out of the Italian tour.<\/p>\n Vingegaard is now so clearly the favorite for the maglia rosa<\/em> that officials will already be penciling his name onto the Trofeo Senza Fine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Red Bull\u2019s budding Italian hope Giulio Pellizzari \u2013 a rider yet to reach a grand tour podium \u2013 leads a pack of distant threats.<\/p>\n For Vingegaard, a straightforward ride in Italy could be crucial to his audacious quest to \u201cpull a Poga\u010dar\u201d in 2026 by doubling victories at the Giro and Tour de France.<\/p>\n A conservative ride through the Bulgarian partenza on May 8 and over the Apennines, Dolomites, and Alps will spare the 29-year-old a few bullets for his battle royale with Poga\u010dar, Remco Evenepoel, and maybe Paul Seixas at Le Tour<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a blow to the Giro d\u2019Italia to lose both Almeida and Landa before racing even started.<\/p>\n Almeida is one of the most consistent GC racers of the modern era.<\/p>\n Still only 27, he also proved he\u2019s got the potential to be a grand tour winner last summer when he finished second behind Vingegaard at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n Almeida revealed in a joint statement with UAE Emirates-XRG on Monday that the sickness that zapped his legs in March at the Volta a Catalunya still hasn\u2019t cleared.<\/p>\n \u201cI just won\u2019t quite be ready in time which is a shame as it\u2019s a race I love so much,\u201d Almeida said Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter talking it through with the team, we decided it was best to take a rest period and switch focus to new goals later in the season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The UAE Emirates superteam has been in tailspin this spring. While Poga\u010dar has been harvesting huge monument victories, the rest of the squad is sick.<\/p>\n Isaac del Toro, Jan Christen, Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez, Brandon McNulty, Tim Wellens, and Jay Vine have been stuck in the infirmary, or only recently made a comeback.<\/p>\n Adam Yates is likely to lead the Emirates crew at the Giro d\u2019Italia in Almeida\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n Soudal Quick-Step confirmed Landa won\u2019t race the Giro after the team learned he suffered a \u201csmall fracture\u201d in his pelvis earlier this month at Itzulia Basque Country.<\/p>\n Landa was clipped by a medical car in the finale of the race\u2019s second stage and crashed heavily. He finished the stage but pulled out the next day.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the nature of the injury, it was not easily identifiable initially. Subsequent checks have now provided a clear diagnosis. The fracture has already begun to heal but will require a further period of recovery,\u201d read a team note Monday.<\/p>\n And Carapaz?<\/p>\n There\u2019s no official word from team EF Education-EasyPost, but Het Laatste Nieuws <\/em>reported Monday that the Ecuadorian ace might not make it to the Bulgarian start.<\/p>\n Carapaz\u2019s readiness to race may have been impacted by a surgery he received for a perineal condition at the start of this month.<\/p>\n Vingegaard could sizeably expand his legacy with his grand tour double.<\/p>\n He\u2019d become only the eighth rider to sweep victories at all three grand tours if he takes victory in Rome in May \u2013 something his archrival Poga\u010dar is yet to do.<\/p>\n Backing it up with a third maillot jaune<\/em> in France would see Visma-Lease a Bike\u2019s leader join Poga\u010dar as the only two men this century to have won the Giro and Tour in one year.<\/p>\n Vingegaard started the season hot by winning both Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya at a canter.<\/p>\n He\u2019s spent the recent weeks adding a few more percentage points \u2013 and committing a few fashion sins \u2013 up high on Tenerife.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had some good training and I\u2019m in better shape. I\u2019m starting to get close to the level I want to be at for the Giro d\u2019Italia,\u201d Vingegaard told TV2 <\/em>last week. \u201cI go into it expecting that I can fight for the win.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to win the Giro,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Vingegaard was more than confident of his chances for the Giro when he spoke to TV2<\/em>.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll be even more bullish after he hears Almeida is out.<\/p>\n Pressure\u2019s on him and the Killer Bees not to screw it up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/vingegaard-favorite-giro-ditalia\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Copy-of-Copy-of-pogi-progress-3.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated April 28, 2026 09:13AM Jonas Vingegaard just vaulted several echelons forward in the Giro d\u2019Italia rankings and he didn\u2019t even turn a pedal. The Dane\u2019s path to victory on debut became even clearer Monday when top rival Jo\u00e3o Almeida and GC veteran Mikel Landa both pulled out of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1907836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1907836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1907836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1907836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1907836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Almeida latest casualty for UAE<\/h2>\n
![\"Almeida](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2233872496-1200x800.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Landa out with fracture, Carapaz TBD<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2162675178.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Vingegaard heating up at altitude<\/h2>\n
![\"Vingegaard](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2266208447-1200x800.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")