How is Vingegaard feeling ahead of the crucial mountain stage after the Giro virus hit him too?

Visma | Lease a Bike team director Jesper Mørkøv has partly confirmed what Geraint Thomas and Alberto Contador had already suspected: Jonas Vingegaard was also affected by the virus that has swept through the Giro peloton. "But everything seems to be fine now," the Dane confirmed. So how was the team leader feeling after a hot day in the saddle?

Vingegaard came through the twelfth stage, won by Alec Segaert, without incident and spoke to TV2 afterwards. In the finale his team kept him safely at the front. "It was all about safety. We took the lead to stay on the safe side, and my team did a fantastic job."

"They were incredibly strong and performed excellently. So we stayed out of trouble and got through it well," the Dane explained. "We were at the front, but only to maintain position, and some teams probably only realised that when it was too late. It was good for Bahrain and an excellent stage win for them," he added, referring to Alec Segaert's victory.

TV2 also spoke with Mørkøv, who confirmed that the Giro virus had reached Visma | Lease a Bike in recent days. "Yes, some riders had a bit of coughing and a tickle in the throat, but everything seems to be fine now," he said. "Jonas was one of them, but all appears well."

Thomas and Contador had already noted that Vingegaard looked affected around the time trial. Before stage eleven, team director Marc Reef played it down to us: "I think the whole peloton has had a bit of a sniffle after those cold days in the opening week. But it's nothing — we're talking about a little cough or a few sneezes. That's all it is," he told us.

Alongside the Visma | Lease a Bike leader, a number of other riders in the peloton were also reported sick, including Tobias Lund Andresen, Luca Mozzato, Michael Valgren and Jensen Plowright, who all spoke openly about it. There are also suspicions that Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) is not fully fit.

"I have also had a little bit of it, but that was already before the rest day, so it is behind me. I am doing much better now than before," Vingegaard told Feltet. "We have had some problems, but it is better now, so it is not going to stop us from continuing."

On Thursday two riders abandoned due to illness: Sjoerd Bax of Pinarello-Q36.5, who had still managed a strong time trial, and Movistar's Javier Romo. Visma | Lease a Bike appear to have the situation under control for now. Third team director Arthur van Dongen stressed on Wednesday: "We have a team doctor with us, and as soon as anyone on the team notices or feels something, we act immediately."

Was Vingegaard fully back to his best ahead of stage thirteen? "On the bike I feel 100 per cent," the Danish leader told CyclingPro.net before the start. That was reassuring, with Saturday's stage already on his mind. "At the moment I'm not thinking about tomorrow — I think it's a tricky finale. It could be a hard day overall. I focus on today, then we see about tomorrow."

Thirteen minutes after winner Alberto Bettiol, the peloton crossed the line with Vingegaard comfortably among them. He arrived at the finish looking relaxed. "It was a good day," he told CyclingPro.net afterwards. "We got through it well — it was very warm. But most of the GC riders were already thinking about tomorrow. So there was not much action; it is what it is."

On another day we might have seen the Dane animated in the finale, launching an attack on the final climb — it was hard enough. But the second-placed rider makes clear he does not want to fire his shots on every climb. "We didn't want to attack today. We choose our days, and today we didn't want to go for it."

It will almost certainly be linked to Saturday's brutally hard mountain stage. Between Aosta and Pila there are 4,350 metres of climbing packed into just 133 kilometres. The finish sits atop the Pila climb — 16.5 kilometres at an average of 7 per cent. Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) still wears the pink jersey, but the gap to second-placed Vingegaard is just 33 seconds.

Everyone expects the Dane to make his biggest move of the race on Saturday, in pursuit of his first overall Giro d'Italia victory. Will we see another devastating attack in stage fourteen, like the one on Blockhaus earlier in the race? "It depends on how the legs are, obviously. But if I feel good, it would be nice to go for it."

On the team website, he spelled out his intentions for Pila even more clearly. "We will do everything to take the pink leader's jersey tomorrow. That would be an enormous honour, of course. It's great that we're climbing again, even though it will be tough tomorrow," Vingegaard concluded.