Jonas Vingegaard enjoyed the third and final rest day of the Giro d'Italia as race leader, patron and undeniable favourite to dominate the final week of racing and then triumph in Rome next Sunday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider seemed to relish his first day in the maglia rosa during the stage to Milan and quickly showed his authority and influence on the race by pushing the UCI commissaire and organisers RCS Sport to neutralise the final city centre lap and take the GC times with 16km to race.
Vingegaard has fully recovered from a minor cold perhaps caused by the rain of the first week and leads former pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) by 2:26, with nearest recognised GC rival Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) third at 2:50. All the other podium contenders are further back and seemingly fighting amongst themselves rather than thinking of challenging Vingegaard and the control of his Visma-Lease a Bike team.
Vingegaard looks pretty in pink but refuted any suggestion the Giro is already won when he spoke before a rest day coffee ride and some activation efforts so he is ready for Tuesday's mountain stage in Switzerland.
"I don't think that the race is over before it's over," Vingegaard told Cyclingnews and other media.
"Everything can happen. I can have a bad day, I can crash, I can get sick. You never know what will happen."
Of course, he is ready to take advantage of his rivals' sense of inferiority and their own battle for the podium.
"In my opinion, the Giro is not over, but if they think that, it's something that I could also use to my advantage. If that's the way they are racing, obviously I can try to take advantage of that," he said.
"Everybody has shown that they are really strong but at this moment, it seems that Felix Gall is a little bit stronger than the other guys. He's the best guy."
Not like Pogačar but also thinking of the Tour de France battle
Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike have opted for a conservative and calculated GC strategy. Vingegaard is also targeting the Tour de France, convinced the Giro can help him peak for July.
He is choosing his objectives and his daily efforts carefully but does want to win at least one more stage and while wearing the maglia rosa.
"The third week is by far the hardest here in this Giro," he made clear.
"That's also why I don't want to go for every stage, because if you go for every stage, the race might be harder than it actually has to be. But I want to honour this race. I also want to try to win a stage in the pink jersey, that would also be a special feeling."
"For sure, we'll go for at least one more stage but I'm not going to tell how many stages we will go for."
Vingegaard is dominating the Giro but he is no Cannibal. Tadej Pogačar won six stages and wore pink for 20 days in 2024, but Vingegaard is different.
"I just focus on myself. I focus on how I am as a person," he said.
"I know Tadej a little bit and he's a very nice person as well. For me, it's about thinking about how I get through this Giro. Obviously I'm also thinking about the Tour de France in the long term."
"I think the Giro can help me get to a high level. I've seen in the last few years that once I've done one Grand Tour, that my level has been higher in the second Grand Tour. That's also what we hope for in the Tour this year."
Embracing the affection of the Italian tifosi
Italy seems to be warming to Vingegaard now he is pink and Vingegaard seems to be opening up to the warmth and affection of the Italian tifosi.
The tifosi might cheer more loudly for Italian extrovert Giulio Pellizzari, but there is always genuine affection and respect for the maglia rosa and Vingegaard is starting to understand that.
"I always really enjoyed racing in Italy but racing the Giro is something special," he said.
"You can feel that for the Italian fans and the nation. It's more enjoyable than I expected. After the first week, I was a bit afraid of how the weather would turn out but we've had extremely nice weather. There's been a lot of spectators on the road and you really feel that it's a special race."
Vingegaard always kisses a photo of his family on his handlebars and always calls home post stage as soon as he can. His family understandably comes first.
"They're obviously watching from home and every time I win and I call them, they tell me that they're extremely proud of me," he said.
"It makes me happy that I can make them proud, and that I can dedicate my wins to them. They support me in everything I do, and without them, I would never be able to win all these races."
His wife Trine and their children are expected in Rome for the final stage and an expected celebration, but Vingegaard knows he first has to get through the final week of racing.
"First we start with the stage Carì, which will obviously be a hard day where we have to ride as GC riders," he pointed out.
"As it looks now, it will be warm last week. I hope for more good weather rather than rain. Then Wednesday's stage is also quite a hard stage and you cannot underestimate that. There might be a breakaway on Thursday but then we have two very hard stages in the Dolomites. There is still a lot of racing before Rome."
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