Decathlon are full of confidence going into the Giro's tough third week

Felix Gall emerged as the best of the rest on the first major climbing test of this Giro, behind Jonas Vingegaard. The tone was set straight away: the Austrian seemed likely to become the Danish favourite’s biggest challenger. The Decathlon leader is now in third place, and when IDL Pro Cycling spoke to Decathlon team boss Luke Roberts on Thursday, that was no great surprise for the team.

In stage 7, Vingegaard delivered the first blow on Blockhaus. Gall finished second behind him there, and that would prove to be a sign of the other summit finishes to come. In the three stages that the Visma rider has won in this Giro, the Austrian has finished second behind him. Only revelation Afonso Eulálio now sits between the two riders overall.

Decathlon will therefore not be unhappy with how things stand, and that was already clear on Thursday, before the start of stage 12, when Roberts spoke about it. He had seen that his rider had come to the Giro with a different preparation. "With fewer races and more specific training camps. He prepared for the UAE Tour with a training camp and did the same for the Tour of Catalonia."

After that, there were no races for a while. "He is fresh, has trained well and is therefore well prepared," Roberts said. "Felix has also been working with the same coach for several years now and that is going well. The experience of the last few years has been carried along by both of them, and his coach has done a good job of getting him into this kind of shape".

He has been the second-best climber so far, but downhill we can say Gall has been less impressive. The Austrian has often lost time on descents during his career, and his team has worked on that. "People may see the descents as Felix’s weakness, but technically he is actually quite good. We have worked on that, so it is more of a confidence thing."

Roberts himself also plays a role in that. "I try to coach him a lot and make him feel more comfortable from the car. His teammates also help him with that, which helps him get over any fear," the Australian former rider said on Thursday.

So it remains to be seen where Gall will stand on Sunday, when the Giro ends in Rome. The third week is tough, with some demanding stages, but at Decathlon they are looking forward to it with confidence. "Felix has shown in recent years that he is at his best in the third week. There are still many summit finishes to come, so we are actually full of confidence," Roberts said.