A searing, finely calculated attack by Jonas Vingegaard 4.6 kilometres from the line on stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia has netted the Danish star his first overall leader's jersey of the race, his third summit victory in eight days, and set the Visma-Lease a Bike rider up perfectly for final victory in Rome a week on Sunday.
When Vingegaard made his move, unlike on the Blockhaus just over a week ago, there was simply no response from any of his rivals, with the Danish racer powering up the sundrenched slopes of Pila alone and at the head of the field.
It didn't matter that everybody had expected this attack and that Visma-Lease a Bike had further signalled their intent with a blistering pursuit of a dangerous 21-rider break. Even if Vingegaard was not climbing the final slopes of Pila at the stratospheric speeds we have seen when at peak performance in other Grand Tours, there was literally nothing anybody could do to respond.
