Climbing show at the Blockhaus: Giro stage win for Vingegaard

Top favourite Jonas Vingegaard has underlined his ambitions for overall victory in the Giro d'Italia with a first climbing show up to the Blockhaus. The two-time Tour champion from Denmark single-handedly took his first stage win in the Tour of Italy on the steep final climb in Abruzzo and moved up to second place in the overall standings after the seventh stage.

After the 13.4 kilometre climb with an average gradient of 8.5 per cent, Vingegaard had a 13 second lead over the surprisingly strong Austrian Felix Gall. For the time being, however, the pink jersey of the race leader remains with the Portuguese rider Afonso Eulalio, who reached the finish at an altitude of 1,665 metres almost three minutes behind. He is still 3:17 minutes ahead of Vingegaard.

No one can follow Vingegaard

In the style of Tadej Pogacar, Vingegaard broke away from the leading group 5.5 kilometres before the finish with a burst of speed. Eulalio could no longer keep up at this speed. Only the Italian Giulio Pellizzari remained on the back wheel for a good kilometre, but had obviously overtaken himself. Instead, the Red Bull captain was caught and overtaken by Gall.

After four stage wins at the Tour and five stage wins at the Vuelta, Vingegaard has now also taken his first stage win at the Giro. The overall victory in the Tour of Italy is still missing from his collection. Pogacar has not yet won all three Grand Tours either, and the Slovenian has not yet been successful at the Vuelta.

Giro-Tour double like Pogacar 2024?

The two rivals will meet again at the Tour in the summer. Vingegaard is aiming for the Giro-Tour double that Pogacar achieved in 2024. The Slovenian world champion focussed on the spring classics this year, taking victories at Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

On Saturday, the eighth stage over 156 kilometres from Chieti to Fermo will be a little more leisurely. However, with three mountain classifications in the fourth and one in the third category, the sprinters should still have no chance.

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