And then, out of nowhere, Vingegaard went for the bonus sprint: 'We'd said we weren't going to try'

Visma | Lease a Bike demonstrated their strength on the treacherous fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia. The Dutch squad were impressively represented in the reduced front group and brought Jonas Vingegaard safely to the finish. Along the way, the Dane made a surprise move for the Red Bull bonus sprint. He didn't win it — but was that always the plan?

On the critical climb, forty kilometres from the line, Visma | Lease a Bike were a constant presence at the front. Vingegaard was superbly protected by Victor Campenaerts, Sepp Kuss, Davide Piganzoli and Bart Lemmen, all four of whom crested the summit in the select front group. Having done that, the Dutch squad chose not to involve themselves in the fight for the stage win.

"We had been very clear before the stage that the priority today was to stay out of trouble," sporting director Marc Reef explained on the team's website. "The wind at the start made things a bit nervous, and the pace was high from the very beginning. Because of that, we made sure Jonas was well-positioned on the climb and on the descent that followed. We owe a lot of that to Timo and Tim, who really put in an enormous amount of work."

About twelve kilometres from the finish came the Red Bull bonus sprint. Tudor and Lidl-Trek made their moves, but suddenly Campenaerts surged to the front with Vingegaard on his wheel. The Dane went for it — but was beaten by Jan Christen, Giulio Pellizzari and Giulio Ciccone, who took six, four and two bonus seconds respectively. It was a surprise, but it didn't change the final picture.

"We were alert on the climb and even had five riders at the front," Reef continued. Missing the bonus sprint was ultimately no disaster. "It's a shame Jonas didn't pick up any bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, but the most important thing today was to pass the finish line safely in the front group. We did that, and we can be very satisfied."

After the finish, Vingegaard himself addressed the sprint — confirming it was not pre-planned. "If you're up there anyway, you might as well give it a go," he told Feltet. "We tried to launch a surprise attack. We had actually said we weren't going to contest it — but we gave it a try. It just didn't come off."

There was no alarm about the lost seconds, either. The general classification is not going to be decided by six bonus seconds, he suggested. And the day as a whole left him feeling good. "I don't think it was that hectic. People just rode hard, which I thought was fine. Especially with that kind of finish, it was good not to have a full peloton, with all the sprinters fighting it out there. That probably would have gone wrong one way or another. We came through well."

It was the first time this Giro that a longer climb had appeared on the stage profile — and Vingegaard handled it comfortably. "I think I was riding well. Obviously the pace was high, but I still felt that both I and the rest of the team had something extra in reserve."