What does Jonas Vingegaard do as the Giro d\u2019Italia reaches its week 3 endgame?<\/p>\n
Obliterate the race, Tadej Poga\u010dar style? Or shut it down and horde watts for the Tour de France?<\/p>\n
Speaking Monday in a rest-day press conference, the Giro\u2019s pink jersey kept his options open.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third week is by far the hardest here in this race,\u201d Vingegaard said Monday. \u201cThere are also a lot of chances in the third week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will choose our days. I\u2019m not going to tell which days it will be, but we will not race completely defensively always, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems the maglia rosa<\/em> is stitched onto Vingegaard\u2019s shoulders as he rides into a third week he could crush, if he wants<\/em> to.<\/p>\n He finished a Visma-Lease a Bike assault on the Alps with devastating consequences Saturday.<\/p>\n His third mountaintop victory beat his rivals into despondency. The likes of Afonso Eul\u00e1lio, Felix Gall, and Jai Hindley seem to have resigned themselves to a race for second-place.<\/p>\n The third week of the Giro d\u2019Italia starting Tuesday is as unpleasant as ever, and perfect for Vingegaard.<\/p>\n A micro distance \u201cunipuerto\u201d stage on Tuesday, a devastating six-climb sufferfest in the Dolomites on stage 19 (Friday), and a double ascent of Piancavallo on stage 20 (Saturday) could become stop-offs in Vingegaard\u2019s victory parade.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the very mountainous lay of the land of the Giro\u2019s third week.<\/p>\n Three mountaintop finishes, two sprint stages, and a breakaway \/ hilly day stand between the beat-down peloton and a prosecco and pizza party on Sunday night in Rome.<\/p>\n Stages 16, 19, and 20 are the three marked \u201cmust-watch.\u201d<\/p>\n Vingegaard has been untouchable on the uphills of this Giro. Even when he was off-color in the second week, he was unmatched.<\/p>\n Three summit victories in three says it all.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not just the maglia rosa<\/em>. His Visma-Lease a Bike superdomestiques Davide Piganzoli and Sepp Kuss join him as two of the best climbers in the race.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve been so dominant Vingegaard\u2019s most likely rival Felix Gall has all-but given up. His 2:50 deficit can\u2019t be overturned.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no point in thinking of beating Jonas,\u201d Gall told reporters after Saturday\u2019s stage. \u201cIt\u2019s more of a race for the podium for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Vingegaard and Visma are too smart to think the Giro is won \u2013 they proved last year with Simon Yates the corsa rosa<\/em> is a race of blow-ups, meltdowns, and turnarounds.<\/p>\n But their thoughts must now be shifting to the Tour de France.<\/p>\n Vingegaard and Pogacar will clip in for the grand d\u00e9part<\/em> six weeks from now.<\/p>\n Visma has the race so locked shut that it seems like they could give Vingegaard an armchair ride to Rome. Every watt the Dane saves now will pay dividends in July.<\/p>\n His 2:26 GC gap over a fast-fatiguing Eul\u00e1lio after stage 15 is all that\u2019s needed \u2013 he can click into eco mode and let Kuss, Piganzoli, and \u201cpee-pee Campi\u201d suffocate the race.<\/p>\n At 113km and maybe three hours of racing, stage 16 is short enough for Visma-Lease a Bike to control from kilometer zero.<\/p>\n Contrastingly, stage 19 through the Dolomites is so hard that Decathlon and Red Bull might not dare swipe at the \u201cKiller Bees\u201d until maybe the second-last climb. The stage is a brute, but it might be brutally simple for V-LAB, too.<\/p>\n After that, Vingegaard only has to navigate one last nut-busting double-dose of Piancavallo on Saturday.<\/p>\n Vingegaard looks so assured in pink that a defensive strategy to save matches for the Tour seems sure to work. But it\u2019s not without risk.<\/p>\n \u201cThe race is not over before it\u2019s over,\u201d Vingegaard acknowledged Monday. \u201cEverything can happen. I can have a bad day or crash. I can get sick. You never know what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Vingegaard could also continue to defy his reputation in this final week of the Giro d\u2019Italia.<\/p>\n The \u201cIceman\u201d isn\u2019t always as boring as people think.<\/p>\n This final week through the deepest Dolomites would be a good chance for him to hammer that message home.<\/p>\n Vingegaard could do this week what Poga\u010dar did when he steamrollered the Giro in 2024 \u2013 assert ultimate authority.<\/p>\n Mountaintop victories on stages 16, 19, and 20 would crown Vingegaard the undisputed Mountain King of Italy and put him level with Poga\u010dar on a sextet of stage wins.<\/p>\n OK, so Vingegaard might not be in a position to win the Giro by 10 minutes a la<\/em> Pog in \u201924. But 6 or 7 minutes isn\u2019t out of the question.<\/p>\n The dynamic between Vingegaard\u2019s rivals might make it easier for Visma-Lease a Bike to do as it pleases.<\/p>\n The long climbs of week 3 suit riders like Gall, Hindley, and Thymen Arensman better than the steep ramps of week 2. And all these diesels typically go better the deeper they ride into a grand tour.<\/p>\n But who are they racing, really? Second at the Giro would be the best result on all their palmar\u00e8s<\/em> except for former Giro champion Hindley.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to see any of the chasing pack risking it all with one \u201cHail Mary\u201d attack.<\/p>\n \u201cJonas has put his stamp on the race,\u201d said Derek Gee-West, who\u2019s stranded 5:41 back.<\/p>\n \u201cAction in the third week will probably be based off guys trying to move around him, whether that\u2019s the podium fight, the top-5 fight, the top-10 fight,\u201d Gee-West told Domestique<\/em>.<\/p>\n Three-stage wins in week 3 is a very real possibility for Vingegaard.<\/p>\n A late-race rout would also be a huge bragging point for him and Visma-Lease a Bike to take to the Tour de France. \u201cThe Bees\u201d would be buzzing.<\/p>\n Option (A) and (B) above aren\u2019t entirely exclusive.<\/p>\n The most likely playbook for this third week?<\/p>\n Vingegaard does what he\u2019s been doing all Giro d\u2019Italia so far \u2013 race efficiently, ruthlessly, and attack only when it matters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/giro-ditalia\/giro-ditalia-week-3-preview\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Giro-dItalia-2026-Stage-16-HarryTalbot-8405.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated May 26, 2026 11:51PM What does Jonas Vingegaard do as the Giro d\u2019Italia reaches its week 3 endgame? Obliterate the race, Tadej Poga\u010dar style? Or shut it down and horde watts for the Tour de France? Speaking Monday in a rest-day press conference, the Giro\u2019s pink jersey kept his […]<\/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-1958231","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\/1958231","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=1958231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1958231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1958231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1958231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The stages that will decide the podium of the Giro d\u2019Italia<\/h2>\n
S16 (Tuesday): 113km, 3000m+<\/h3>\n
![\"Giro](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PtTqq9KeZ9zFqTPG3ybs_150426-024759-e1779697888520-1200x640.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\nS19 (Friday): 151km, 5000m+<\/h3>\n
![\"Giro](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Kcobp7DQfK1u2J76rr4g_150426-033547-e1779697846252-1200x748.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\nS20 (Saturday): 200km, 3750m+<\/h3>\n
![\"Giro](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ilYaK3jnrBqWjLwlVZma_150426-035245-e1779697825357-1200x619.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
<\/figure>\nVingegaard\u2019s choice: (a) Shut down the Giro d\u2019Italia, save for the Tour<\/h2>\n
![\"Jonas](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/jonas-vingegaard-stage-15-giro-ditalia-2026.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Vingegaard\u2019s choice: (b) Tear the Giro d\u2019Italia apart for pre-Tour swagger<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Giro-dItalia-2026-Stage-14-HarryTalbot-3375-1200x801.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
What will Vingegaard do?<\/h2>\n