Vingegaard Shows Pogačar-Like Vibes as Giro GC Battle Ignites

Jonas Vingegaard may ultimately have missed out on an early opportunity for a stage win and race leadership, but his Giro d’Italia GC rivals had a clear sign of his form and intent in a stage 2 showdown Saturday.

The three-time Grand Tour winner showed welcome aggression in the finale of the stage, sparking off a big showdown when he attacked on the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass with 12km to go.

He stretched out the select peloton with a seated acceleration and then broke the elastic with a more violent surge, going over the summit alone. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider was joined soon afterwards by Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché), and together they pressed on towards the finish in Veliko Tarnovo.

“The idea was to thin out the group significantly in order to avoid the dangers in the final kilometer,” Vingegaard later explained. “I felt good today and I would have liked to sprint for the win, but it was much more important to reach the finish safely.”

The three riders looked in line to dispute the stage win but the momentum flagged somewhat when tactics came into play. This finessing allowed Jan Christen (UAE Emirates-XRG) to leap across the gap with 1km to go, with further stalls enabling the reduced peloton to rejoin and Thomas Silva (XDS Astana Team) to win.

That was a disappointing end for fans of the aggressors, but each of those riders can and will take big encouragement from how they performed.

Visma-Lease a Bike DS Marc Reef interprets the approach as a key indicator of Vingegaard’s form.

“He shows that he is in excellent shape. The plan was to attack on the final climb, but of course you always have to see how the legs feel,” he said. “It’s good to see how strong Jonas is.”

A gambling error

Van Eetvelt and Pellizzari were also impressive, not quite holding the Dane when he surged but not being too far off him either.

The former is a past winner of the UAE Tour and Tour of Guangxi and showed his best form all season on Saturday.

“I know that on a good day I can be close to those guys, to Vingegaard and Pellizzari,” he said afterwards, taking satisfaction from his performance. “I just haven’t been able to show it very often yet. Today was one of those days when I finally could.”

Still, it wasn’t easy.

“Those guys were incredibly strong. Even on the descent I struggled to stay with Vingegaard.”

Now 24 years of age, Van Eetvelt is yet to take a Grand Tour stage win. He went close in 2024, finishing just behind Primož Roglič on stage 4 of the Vuelta. He was also third on stage 14 of the same race in 2023.

He hasn’t quite progressed as steadily as some expected, and will rue an opportunity missed on Saturday.

“I was counting a bit on those two GC riders continuing to work for at least the bonus seconds, so that we could stay away,” he said. “We were riding for the pink jersey, and I gambled wrong. The pace dropped, we looked at each other a bit too much, and the rest came back. Unfortunately.”

Don’t be surprised if he is animating the race again and again as the Giro progresses. Van Eetvelt’s form is good and he’ll be even more determined as a result of Saturday.

“At the start of this Giro, I said there would be 15 opportunities for me over the next three weeks,” he said. “This was one of them. It’s a shame that this one slipped away, but above all I’ll remember the strong legs I was able to show here.”

‘You have to be up there’

If a stage win is a big goal for Van Eetvelt, GC is very much the focus for Pellizzari and Vingegaard. The latter is deemed by many as the most likely winner of the race and while that is not guaranteed, his past history lends weight to that perception.

Vingegaard is twice a winner of the Tour de France, beating Tadej Pogačar in 2022 and 2023. And while he has occupied the runner-up slot the past two years, he did win the Vuelta last September.

The Dane surprised many over the winter when he set the Giro as his first major goal of the year. Some perceived that as hedging his bets in relation to the Tour, but he has made clear that completing a rare hat-trick of successes in cycling’s Grand Tours is a strong and legitimate target to chase.

He is likely also hoping to get the same pre-Tour boost that his Pogačar enjoyed when he rode the Giro in 2024.

He showed superb form since the start of the year, clocking up six wins in 15 days prior to the start of the Giro.

Vingegaard was keeping his tactics close to his chest prior to the start of the stage but, upon reflection, did give hints that he might try something.

“For sure you have to be up there in the front,” he told CyclingPro.net. “You have to be ready for it. Because it will be a big fight, it is definitely a hard climb in the end. So you need to be up there and be ready for it.”

He was ready, he was willing, and with numerous opportunities coming up, expect the race to be shaken up again and again.

Pogačar isn’t the only rider who can dynamite a Grand Tour.