Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) dropped from third to fourth on general classification after the Giro d'Italia's stage 10 time trial on Tuesday, losing 1'22" to Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) across the 42km flat course from Viareggio to Massa, but said he remains confident in the form that carried him through the first week.
Gall now sits 2'24"behind race leader Afonso Eulálio (Team Bahrain Victorious), who kept the maglia rosa by 27 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) with Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) moving ahead of Gall into the final podium place by 27" over the Austrian thanks to a superb time trial display. Arensman's teammate Filippo Ganna won the stage.
"In the end, the legs are definitely there" Gall said in a post-stage interview.
The final result for Gall was better than some expected but the Austrian always knew he would lose time. After stage 9, where he finished second to Vingegaard, he said "the TT is not exactly my strength. I was working on it a lot for sure, but yeah, I think it is more about managing it and I am expecting to lose time on my opponents but I hope not too much."
Gall was mobbed by journalists immediately after finishing and was asked about his performance. "I don't know about the gaps but I know that it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. It was such a long TT," said the Austrian. "I don't think there was much more I could've done today. It was super long and after 30 minutes I tried to hold on and, yeah, I did my best."
Even though he has lost time to almost all his rivals, he remains in a superb position in the GC and has already shown that he is the second best climber in the race behind Vingegaard. He is just 27" from Arensman and third place but he will hope for a second place with no more time trials remaining and a slowly fading Eulálio could assist him in that quest as well.
At the end of the day, he didn't fall down the GC and he was content with his effort. "I looked at the numbers and they were exactly what I wanted to do, the legs are definitely there." He said.
Gall starts the second half of the Giro fourth overall, outside the podium places but still within striking distance.
Cover image credit: Gian Mattia D'Alberto / LaPresse
