Vingegaard takes control of the Giro d'Italia with a double triumph on brutal mountain stage

Jonas Vingegaard has claimed his third stage win of the Giro d'Italia. On the brutally hard mountain stage to Pila, the Visma | Lease a Bike Dane was in a class of his own after superb work from his team. In doing so, he also took the pink jersey from a dropped Afonso Eulálio. Felix Gall finished second, ahead of Jai Hindley, a remarkable Davide Piganzoli and a surprisingly strong Giulio Pellizzari.

The second week of the Giro began with a crucial time trial, but since then the battle for the general classification had been in something of a holding pattern — the breakaway riders had been getting their chances. Stage fourteen was different: heavy, brutally hard. This was the territory of the pure climbers in the Aosta Valley.

133 kilometres and 4,200 metres of climbing: you would struggle to fit more vertical gain into a single stage. With the finish atop the demanding Pila climb, the course was perfect for a GC showdown. Eulálio still wore the pink jersey — but could he defend his 33-second lead over Vingegaard? It looked like an almost impossible task.

From the flag, the racing went hard immediately on the ascent to Saint-Barthélémy, and attack danger was high from the very first pedal stroke. It did not take long for the familiar names to emerge at the front. A group of around 25 riders broke clear, including Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jardi Christiaan van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Enric Mas (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Wout Poels (Unibet Rose Rockets), Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla) and Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

From that group, Christen and Van der Lee slipped away cleverly, gaining around half a minute on the chasers. The Dutchman took maximum points at the summit and jumped to third in the mountains classification. On the descent, the second group made contact again — but the peloton was never far behind, rarely more than two minutes down in the opening phase.

An intermediate sprint came next, taken by Jhonatan Narváez. The Ecuadorian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG moved ahead of Paul Magnier in the points classification and pulled on the purple jersey. On the next climb, to Doues, Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) wound up the pace in the lead group in support of Johannes Kulset.

The acceleration split the group decisively, and some surprising names were left behind: Christen, Mas and Narváez all had to let go. A group of around twelve reached the summit, where Igor Arrieta took the climb points ahead of Van der Lee. On the descent, the Spaniard briefly rode clear, before Mas and a small group clawed back contact with the chasers below.

On the next ascent it was Ciccone who got the better of Van der Lee, who still took second and moved up to second in the mountains classification. The Dutchman had emptied himself entirely and had to let go — Ciccone took maximum points on the penultimate climb of the day too. A long descent followed, before the brutal summit finish to Pila waited.

The peloton was closing in, though. Tim Rex had been riding on the front for around eighty kilometres and was visibly suffering — producing stunning images. He handed over to Bart Lemmen, who brought the favourites to within 2:30 of the leaders at the top of the penultimate climb. That gap held roughly steady on the descent, before the riders quickly began the final ascent.

It looked hopeless for the breakaway riders, who had two minutes in hand at the foot of the climb. Campenaerts set a relentless pace at the head of the peloton. Pink jersey wearer Eulálio began to struggle, and Pellizzari was visible at the back of the group. Up front, Jan Hirt (NSN) cranked up the tempo, whittling the lead group down to around seven riders — with Poels still hanging on. But the gap to the favourites was shrinking fast.

Campenaerts drove the pace all the way to ten kilometres from the finish, before Sepp Kuss took over. He turned the screw, and Eulálio finally cracked. Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) also had to let go. Vingegaard's pink jersey dream was becoming very real. Up front, the crafty Poels attacked, catching everyone off guard. He could not make it stick, however, and found himself in trouble again.

Under Kuss's relentless tempo, the GC men rapidly closed in on the lead group. With seven kilometres to go, the gap was forty seconds and falling fast. With five kilometres remaining, as Davide Piganzoli took over, the last breakaway riders were swallowed up. Then, in the final five kilometres, came the expected Vingegaard attack — and nobody could respond. Gall was once again the closest, alongside Piganzoli. Behind them, Arensman, Bernal and Hindley fought it out.

Bernal had to crack, but then an unexpected figure came back: Pellizzari. The Italian proved far stronger than he had suggested earlier in the stage. The two Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leaders left their Dutch podium rival behind and rode up to Piganzoli. But Vingegaard was flying — building his lead metre by metre, riding his rivals into the ground.

He crested the summit at Pila alone and pulled on the pink jersey. Gall finished second again, already 50 seconds back. Hindley came in not far behind in third, ahead of Piganzoli and Pellizzari. Arensman lost around 20 seconds to his key podium rivals. Eulálio came in 2 minutes 47 seconds behind Vingegaard — but holds on to second place for now.