Vingegaard powers to maiden Giro stage victory

AFP | Rome

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Jonas Vingegaard ignited his Giro d’Italia title bid yesterday with a brilliant stage seven victory on the formidable Blockhaus climb in the Apennines.

xThe two-time Tour de France champion, who is bidding to complete a career sweep of the three Grand Tours after winning last year’s Vuelta a Espana, finished 13 seconds clear of Felix Gall to complete his set of stage wins on all three of the 21-day races.

Former Giro winner Jai Hindley of Australia was a further 49 seconds back in third place.

“Today we just wanted to go for the win and I’m extremely happy that I was able to finish it off,” said Visma’s Vingegaard. “My teammates did an amazing job today.”

Vingegaard’s first Giro stage win laid down a serious marker to the field in his race debut.

He was over six minutes behind overall leader Afonso Eulalio heading into the day, but took almost three minutes out of that advantage.

The Dane is now second in the general classification, 3min and 17sec behind Eulalio and 17sec clear of third-placed Gall.

“I’m definitely happy that I could take back some time,” added Vingegaard.

“It was a good day for me, a good day for us... To take back some time on my opponents, it’s a good day for us.”

Portuguese rider Eulalio took the pink jersey by winning a rain-lashed fifth stage earlier this week.

Yesterday’s race developed on the brutal final Blockhaus climb with winds buffeting the riders, a 13.6km ascent with an average 8.4-percent gradient. Former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal and Movistar’s Enric Mas were both dropped by an ever-shrinking peloton.