Breakaway hopefuls wondering if Visma will show restraint in Italy

Jonas Vingegaard has already shown his hand in Bulgaria at the Giro d'Italia. The race's top favourite is hoping to stamp his authority on the weeks ahead, but the other teams in the race are hoping he won't ride it quite like Tadej Pogacar did in 2024. Will there be any scraps left for the stage hunters?

The 2024 Giro d'Italia is still somewhat notorious for the sheer scale of Pogacar's dominance. The Slovenian won six stages and gave breakaway riders precious little room, most memorably in the stage 16 summit finish to Monte Pana, where he rode down Giulio Pellizzari in the final metres to deny the young Italian a stage win. Given Vingegaard's spring form, he is entirely capable of pulling off the same tricks on the mountain stages here.

But Uno-X Mobility are hoping that the Visma | Lease a Bike man takes it a touch easier in the coming days. "It's no secret that we're going after some of these breakaway opportunities as soon as we reach Italy," Uno-X sports director Emil Mielke Vinjebo told Eurosport after stage three. "Stage 4 could already be a breakaway stage — or at least a reduced sprint. And stage 5 is definitely a breakaway stage."

He expects Vingegaard's focus to shift later in the week. Which creates an opening. "I expect Visma to take it a bit easy — I hope — and look ahead towards Blockhaus. And then let the rest of us go after some breakaways. Jonas wanted to have a bit of fun on Saturday, and he clearly has the legs for it. But I also think they're going to use their heads over the coming days in Italy and look a bit further down the road."

Vinjebo has no quarrel with Vingegaard's attacking instinct — which he put on full display in stage two. The official line from Vingegaard's camp is that attacking was about staying safe at the front of the race. But Vinjebo isn't buying it. "Jonas basically says he did it to be safer. But he didn't need to do that. He could easily have sat safely with Piganzoli in a group of 25 or 30 riders. I think it's because he loves to ride and simply has such great legs."

Davide Piganzoli is Vingegaard's key climbing domestique at this Giro, a 23-year-old Italian who joined Visma | Lease a Bike from Polti VisitMalta over the winter. Vinjebo's point is clear: if Vingegaard's priority were purely safety, riding quietly in a large group with his own teammate would have been perfectly sufficient.

"Of course he's safer in a three-man group, but he's also racing to win. It's cool to see — but he won't ride like that every day. They also need to keep Rome in mind." Under Visma | Lease a Bike's watch, Vinjebo believes the breakaway hunters will have more freedom than they had under UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Pogacar in 2024. Whether that turns out to be true is something Tuesday's stage 4 may begin to answer.