Jonas Vingegaard has won all four mountain finishes of this year's Giro d'Italia and now leads the race by more than four minutes, but we could now see the Dane relent in his dominance and even start working for his teammates.
Following his victory at Carì on stage 16 on Tuesday, Vingegaard said he would be "very proud" to help out his leading mountain domestique Davide Piganzoli, who is within reach of the white jersey for the best young rider, while also name-checking Sepp Kuss, who could complete the set of stage wins in all three Grand Tours.
After Vingegaard's wins atop Blockhaus, Corno alle Scale, Pila, and Carì, two mountain stages remain in this Giro, with finishes in Alleghe on stage 19 and then up to Piancavallo on stage 20.
Six stage victories would equal Tadej Pogačar's Giro victory haul of 2024, but Vingegaard is not interested in comparisons or records. He wanted to win in the pink jersey for the first time on Tuesday, but now seems prepared to share the success around with his loyal Visma-Lease a Bike teammates.
"I'm going to go for all the stages this week, also in Rome…!" Vingegaard joked when asked about possibly going for seven stage wins to better Pogačar.
"No…. To be honest, I don't think too much about what happened in history, and now I have four stage wins.
"I would love to win one more stage, but I would actually also be very happy to see my teammates David Piganzoli or Sepp Kuss ending up with a stage."
A stage win for Kuss would make the US rider part of the club of riders with stage wins in all three Grand Tours, after stage wins in the 2019 and 2023 editions of the Vuelta a España and in the 2021 Tour de France.
Kuss has been a key ally for Vingegaard and for former Visma leader Primož Roglič over the years, even emerging to win the overall title at the Vuelta ahead of both of them in 2023 – and it was notable that Vingegaard seemed more amenable to the idea of the domestique usurping the leaders than Roglič did on that occasion in Spain.
As for Piganzoli, the 23-year-old Italian, in his debut WorldTour season, has shone as the leading mountain domestique at this Giro. His work has put him into 8th position overall, and Giulio Pellizzari's demise means he's now second in the white jersey classification, 2:17 behind former race leader Afonso Eulálio, who appears to be a fading force.
"I'd also like Davide to win the white jersey. I would be very happy about that," Vingegaard stated.
"He's an extremely good teammate, he's a good guy, and he will do absolutely everything for me. Now he's in a very good position for the white jersey, so if I have to help him a little bit, it's something that would make me very proud."
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