Week one of the Giro d’Italia ended on Sunday with a shift in the GC rankings after race favourite Jonas Vingegaard showcased a disrupting performance to rocket him to second in the lead.
Bunch sprints, crashes, and mountain action determined the flow of the first week of the Giro in Italy.
Afonso Eulálio of Bahrain Victorious holds on to the pink jersey, but a threat looms in the form of Vingegaard, whose commanding execution in two stages proved he will not settle for anything less than overall victory.
Vingegaard sets sights on Eulálio’s Maglia Rosa
XDS-Astana’s Guillermo Thomas Silva arrived in Italy wearing the Maglia Rosa but it was quickly snatched away by Italian hero Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek in stage four after an odds-defying performance to gain time on rivals.
But that lead was short-lived, after Eulálio outclassed everyone to take the lead in stage five, putting nearly three minutes between him and his closest contender, Igor Arrieta from the UAE Team Emirates – XRG.
His gap from Vingegaard had been more than six minutes.
That was until stage seven, during which Vingegaard dropped his rivals and took his very first Giro stage win on the precarious slopes of Blockhaus.
Not only did he win there, but he also set a new record up the climb with 38 minutes and 22 seconds.
By then, he had cut the gap to Eulálio to three minutes and 17 seconds, skyrocketing him to second place in the GC rankings.
Stage nine gave breakaway riders hope they could fight for the win, but Decathlon CMA CGM Team controlled a cruising pace of the peloton, reeling the chasers in to keep the gap from widening significantly.
It was clear they wanted to take the stage for Decathlon leader Felix Gall, who has emerged as one of the closest rivals of Vingegaard in the Giro.
Ciccone, who was part of an earlier escape, pushed hard on the pedals and attacked 10 kilometres from the summit.
His efforts, however, were in vain, with Gall launching an attack near the end of the Corno alle Scale. Vingegaard was right on his wheel.
They eclipsed Ciccone, but Vingegaard powered through soon enough in the last kilometre to take his second stage win – and lessen the gap to the Maglia Rosa to just two minutes and 24 seconds.
Eulálio managed to limit the damage, but Sunday’s stage nine showed he will have to do more if he wants to keep the pink jersey.
Nevertheless, Eulálio was hopeful after the stage.
“First of all, it’s perfect to arrive at the rest day with the pink jersey. It was one of the objectives for the team and we all fought for this,” he said.
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Felix Gall emerges as breakout star
Vingegaard has also found a strong rival for this year’s Giro in Gall.
He was among the few riders who responded to the Dane’s attack in stage seven and held on to his wheel to secure a valiantly-fought second place.
He then showed again that he was in the finest form of his career when he matched Vingegaard’s power all the way to the finale of the climb in stage nine.
The Austrian’s performance has helped him topple more GC rivals to end up in third in the overall rankings, just 35 seconds shy of Vingegaard.
“I am very happy that I can show such a high level again. I am only beaten by Jonas,” Gall said in a post-race interview reported by Cycling Up to Date.
Meanwhile, Vingegaard admitted Team Visma-Lease a Bike had not planned to pull for the win in stage nine.
“We realised quite quickly that Decathlon wanted to go for the stage, and it’s always nice with a win, something I’m super happy with,” he said.
Vingegaard had praised Gall earlier, calling him a “strong rider.”
“Felix is a very strong rider, so we knew he’d be up there close,” Vingegaard told Cycling Weekly.
“He’s a big rival and so he is a guy we have to worry about.”
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UAE stages epic comeback
While the fight for the Maglia Rosa heated up, other teams set their sights on dominating other stages, particularly the UAE.
They faced a disastrous start to their Giro bid after three of their riders crashed in Bulgaria and had to pull out.
Those crashes reduced their numbers, but UAE used that to instead fuel their determination.
Jhonatan Narváez outsprinted 41 other rides to take stage four.
And in one of the wildest stages in a Grand Tour where no one knew who would emerge victorious up until the last kilometres, Arrieta overcame a crash, a wrong turn, and a near slip to quip Eulálio on a rain-lashed stage five for the win.
“I was completely empty in the last kilometres, but I knew Eulálio was also the same, and both of us deserved the victory, but in the end I had it,” said an emotional Arrieta, who crossed the finish line in tears.
It was already a redemption road for the UAE, but Narváez made sure to stamp out an even more epic comeback when he attacked and soloed to another victory in stage eight, sending a warning to rival teams that they are still in the fight.
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