Vingegaard dominates the Giro, but how sick was the Visma leader? Campenaerts explains

Four stage wins and a four-minute lead over second place: Jonas Vingegaard is dominating the Giro d'Italia just as expected. Things are running smoothly at Visma | Lease a Bike, although the Danish leader was reportedly ill for a while. There was plenty of talk about that, but super-domestique Victor Campenaerts explains exactly how serious it really was .

Vingegaard won his fourth stage of this Giro in Carì on Tuesday, and that was duly celebrated. "But it remains serious," Campenaerts told Belgian outlet Sporza before the start of stage 17. "We drink a glass of champagne, but we cannot celebrate that the way Alberto (Bettiol) celebrated his win." On Wednesday, Visma | Lease a Bike had a somewhat easier day. "We are putting absolutely everything into winning. It is no secret that Friday and Saturday are the important stages".

In the second week, the Dane was not completely fit, he admitted. But the Belgian played down all the stories about his condition. "There was a lot said about him being sick, but I would describe it more as a glorified cold. It was a cold that was going round the whole peloton. There was never a moment when Jonas was in trouble".

That was not the case in stage 17 either. The hilly stage to Andalo was one for the breakaway. No Visma | Lease a Bike rider made it into the eventual front group, but neither was there any dangerous GC rival up there. The Dutch team could therefore control things while Michael Valgren took the stage win.

His pink-clad compatriot was delighted. "We had already decided beforehand not to go for the stage win today," Vingegaard said after the race on his team’s website. "We have already had two hard weeks behind us and the Giro is not over yet. My team-mates could take it a little easier today. I am very happy for Michael. He has had a lot of bad luck in his career, so this stage win is a wonderful reward for all his hard work".