Gall quickly realised Vingegaard was going too hard: 'I suffered from the heat'

The all-important stage fourteen of the Giro d'Italia delivered, as expected, a victory for Jonas Vingegaard, who once again showed he is the man to beat in the Italian race. Behind the dominant Dane, it was once again Felix Gall who proved he is the best of the rest — though it was far from as straightforward as it may have looked.

When the last of the breakaway leaders was finally reeled in, all eyes turned to the battle among the GC men. Could anyone prevent Vingegaard from taking another convincing stage win? No, as it turned out. The Visma | Lease a Bike leader was simply too strong for the rest.

The battle for the minor placings did produce some compelling and tense racing. For the second time in this Giro, it was Gall — in the colours of Decathlon CMA CGM — who was the strongest rider behind Vingegaard. He crossed the line 49 seconds back in his own quiet, measured way, holding Jai Hindley around ten seconds behind him in third.

"I'm happy that I had quite good legs again," the Austrian in French colours told CyclingPro.net afterwards. "But the heat meant it wasn't my absolute best day. Some days are just a little bit easier. Today was one of those days where you have to work harder. It was a real struggle."

Despite his measured optimism, even the 28-year-old GC rider had to dig very deep. "I was quite spent in the final kilometres, but in the end I gained time on my main rivals," said Gall, who once again made clear that he is not racing the Giro against Vingegaard but against the other contenders for second place in the final standings.

"Initially I still hoped I could follow Vingegaard and sit in his wheel. But I quickly realised that wasn't going to happen. So I decided to ride my own pace — especially because it was so hot. That was the best plan, and that's what I did. It was nice that nobody was on my wheel, so I could focus entirely on myself."