Vingegaard drops his rivals but is surprised by final climb: "Honestly, I didn’t do my homework"

Before the stage, Vingegaard said it wouldn't be his day. The stage wasn't challenging enough, he analysed. But when did he decide it would be his day after all? “The moment I put the team at the front on the final climb,” the winner explains in the flash interview. “I felt great today, and I felt amazing on the final climb. I asked them to accelerate, and they did a great job. It was fantastic teamwork, and I’m very happy that I was able to finish it off. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

It was Matteo Jorgenson who did a fantastic lead-out: after Vingegaard's acceleration, only Giulio Ciccone was able to follow, but the Italian from Lidl-Trek also dropped back later. At that point, it was still a long way to the finish line. “To be honest, I didn't really do my homework, I thought we were closer to the finish,” laughs Vingegaard. “I was surprised when we passed under the bow marking the last 10 kilometers. At that point, I already had the gap, and I had to keep going.”

In the end, Vingegaard gained almost 2 minutes on leader Torstein Traeen, including bonuses, leaving him half a minute short of the red jersey. But that wasn't the goal for the last stage before the rest day. “Not necessarily. I mainly wanted to win the stage and gain time on my closest rivals. To be honest, I don't know whether I'm in the red jersey or not.” He certainly gained time: João Almeida and Tom Pidcock conceded 23 seconds, Ciccone and co 1.46 minutes.