Jonas Vingegaard, with the help of Durango’s Sepp Kuss and the rest of the Visma-Lease a Bike squad, was the pre-race favorite for the Giro d’Italia, and the Danish star is starting to show why.
Vingegaard was in second or worse in the general classification for the first 13 stages, including seven stages in second place. Since he took over the pink leader’s jersey, with the help of Kuss and the strong Visma squad, Vingegaard has a commanding lead of the GC with less than a week left.
The latest triumph for Vingegaard, Kuss and Visma was on Tuesday with the challenging Stage 16. Vingegaard won the stage, his fourth stage win of the Giro, in two hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds. Kuss finished 6:35 behind Vingegaard in 19th.
Stage 16 was a 113-kilometer mountainous trek through the Swiss and Italian Alps from Bellinzona, Switzerland, to Carì, Switzerland. Rated four out of five stars in terms of difficulty, Stage 16 started with a gradual climb to Torre, with three smaller categorized climbs in the middle before a very steep climb to finish in Carì.
A breakaway group of about a dozen riders started the stage, but Vinegegaard, Kuss and the Visma-Lease a Bike squad never let the breakaway group get more than two minutes up the road.
Eventually, the Visma and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe squads cut into the lead of the shrinking breakaway group and passed the breakaway group with less than 10 km left in the stage. Kuss was at the front of the lead, guiding Vingegaard at the start of the final climb, before he dropped away from the front with his job done.
“It was a beautiful but demanding final climb,” Vingegaard said. “The team did an amazing job today. We stayed attentive from the start and never really gave the breakaway a chance. We rode the final climb at a very high pace, and after that I had to finish it off. I’m happy that I could once again repay my teammates for all their hard work.”
Visma teammate Davide Piganzoli was the final rider to leave Vingegaard at the front with about 6.5 km left. Vingegaard’s speed up the climb was unparalleled, gapping the rest of the field by a minute with less than 2 km left, easily winning at the top of the climb.
Vingegaard now has a commanding 4:03 lead over Felix Gall in the GC. Kuss is up to 16th in the GC, 18:07 behind Vingegaard. With five stages left, there are still two mountain stages remaining where Kuss could take a surprise stage win, the first of his career at the Giro. Next up is a deceivingly challenging Stage 17 on Wednesday. The final two mountain stages are on Friday and Saturday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
