Vingegaard takes pink at Pila as expected, but Eulálio limits losses and Gall keeps GC alive

Vingegaard takes pink at Pila as expected, but Eulálio limits losses and Gall keeps GC alive

Pink changed hands on the summit finish at Pila, yet the gaps behind Vingegaard remain workable. Eulálio held second, Gall moved into third, and the Giro's final week still has shape.

By Tim Bonville-Ginn · · 4 min read

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) won stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia at Pila on Saturday, taking the pink jersey from Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) on the 133km Alpine stage from Aosta. The result was widely anticipated; the main shifts came behind him. Eulálio stayed second overall at 2:26, and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) moved into third at 2:50 after finishing closest to the Dane on the stage.

Vingegaard's winning margin of 49 seconds over Gall was his largest of the race so far. He attacked on the final climb of a day that packed 4,350 metres of climbing into a short stage, riding solo to the line after Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the race through Saint-Barthélémy, Doues, Lin Noir and Verrogne. Gall kept the Dane closest once again on the final climb, with Vingegaard not managing the major time gains on his rivals that had been expected. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) took third on the stage at 58 seconds, reinforcing his place in the overall picture.

As said in the prediction piece on Friday, riders just outside the top 10 went for the early break on the first climb of the day, Saint-Barthélémy. That was the right tactic, with teams like Movistar and Uno-X Mobility getting multiple riders in the group to support their main focuses of Einer Rubio and Johannes Kulset. Jan Hirt (NSN) and David de la Cruz (Pinarello-Q36.5) also made moves, with the former holding on to finish ninth on the stage. None of them made major inroads on the GC, but that was more because of what happened behind. Visma | Lease a Bike kept the gap tight throughout, and the GC battle arrived on the final ascent, where Vingegaard imposed himself — though not in quite the dominant fashion many had expected.

Cyclists in pink helmets and jerseys celebrate with fans along a road at a race finish

Credit to Eulálio, though. The Portuguese rider was dropped early — even before Davide Piganzoli had taken over from Sepp Kuss in the Visma train. Yet the pink jersey wearer found something within him to manage the gap. He got to about 2:15 off the back of the Dane and the time stopped growing. At the finish he crossed the line at 2:49 and remains second overall. A heroic ride from the 24-year-old. That said, if he continues losing time at that rate, he will likely slip down the order in the coming mountain stages, with Gall, Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Hindley, Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Storer all very close by.

Gall's consistency on summit finishes now makes him a live threat to Eulálio's second place, with just 24 seconds separating them in the updated general classification. His pattern through the race has been the same: he stays closest to Vingegaard, even if this time the final gap opened up a little more than before. That persistence keeps the podium battle open.

Further back, Arensman slipped to fourth at 3:03 after losing 1:23 on the stage, while Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) dropped to eighth after conceding 2:55. Hindley sits fifth at 3:43, with teammate Pellizzari sixth at 4:22 after a valiant effort in which the white jersey looked in difficulty on multiple occasions and even found himself off the back at one point. With Michael Storer (Tudor) also riding a solid climb, the top seven in GC are now all within five minutes of each other, with some huge mountain tests still to come.

Away from the GC, Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took the points jersey by a single point over Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep), though Sunday's flat sprint stage should quickly swing that margin back into the young Frenchman's favour. In the mountains classification, Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) have begun hunting KOM points and sit roughly 85 to 90 points behind Vingegaard, with a big final week of climbing still to come.

Sunday's flatter stage should pause the GC battle before the race returns to the mountains on Tuesday for a brutal final week. Vingegaard will wear pink, but he doesn't hold absolutely every card for the moment as rivals keep him honest.

Results

Aosta to Pila • May 23 • 133km

Velora
PosRiderTeamTime
🥇
Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE3:53:01
🥈
Felix Gall
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+0:49
🥉
Jai Hindley
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+0:58
4
Davide Piganzoli
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+1:03
5
Giulio Pellizzari
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+1:03
6
Thymen Arensman
NETCOMPANY INEOS+1:23
7
Michael Storer
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+1:35
8
Wouter Poels
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+2:08
9
Jan Hirt
NSN CYCLING TEAM+2:08
10
Egan Arley Bernal Gomez
NETCOMPANY INEOS+2:08
11
Einer Augusto Rubio Reyes
MOVISTAR TEAM+2:08
12
Derek Gee
LIDL-TREK+2:24
13
Mathys Rondel
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+2:30
14
Sepp Kuss
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+2:46
15
Afonso Eulálio
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+2:49
16
Ben Alexander O'Connor
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+2:55
17
Damiano Caruso
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+2:55
18
Gregor Mühlberger
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+2:55
19
David de la Cruz Melgarejo
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+2:55
20
Aleksandr Vlasov
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+3:45
21
Christopher Harper
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+4:06
22
Johannes Kulset
UNO-X MOBILITY+4:42
23
Igor Arrieta Lizarraga
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+5:26
24
Giulio Ciccone
LIDL-TREK+6:17
25
Enric Mas Nicolau
MOVISTAR TEAM+6:17
26
Markel Beloki Fernandez
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+7:36
27
Gianmarco Garofoli
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+7:36
28
Koen Bouwman
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+7:51
29
Giovanni Aleotti
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+11:38
30
Embret Svestad-Bårdseng
NETCOMPANY INEOS+14:11
31
Johannes Staune-Mittet
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+14:11
32
Callum Scotson
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+14:11
33
Juan Pedro Lopez Perez
MOVISTAR TEAM+14:11
34
Ludovico Crescioli
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+14:11
35
Bart Lemmen
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+15:36
36
Victor Campenaerts
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+15:36
37
Ben Zwiehoff
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+16:24
38
Florian Stork
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+16:24
39
Simone Gualdi
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+16:24
40
Jack Leonard Haig
NETCOMPANY INEOS+16:24
41
Mark Jamie Donovan
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+16:24
42
Lorenzo Rota
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+26:29
43
Edoardo Zambanini
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+26:29
44
Magnus Sheffield
NETCOMPANY INEOS+26:29
45
Nelson Oliveira
MOVISTAR TEAM+26:29
46
Connor Swift
NETCOMPANY INEOS+26:29
47
Lawrence Warbasse
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+26:29
48
Michael Valgren
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+26:29
49
William Barta
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+26:29
50
Christopher Jensen
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+26:29
51
Jhonatan Narvaez Prado
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+26:29
52
Matteo Sobrero
LIDL-TREK+26:29
53
Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier
LIDL-TREK+26:29
54
Nickolas Zukowsky
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+26:54
55
Diego Ulissi
XDS ASTANA TEAM+27:17
56
Alberto Bettiol
XDS ASTANA TEAM+27:17
57
James Shaw
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+27:17
58
Brieuc Rolland
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+27:17
59
Jonas Rutsch
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+29:40
60
Mathijs Paasschens
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+29:40
61
Tobias Bayer
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+29:40
62
Alan Hatherly
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+29:40
63
Lorenzo Milesi
MOVISTAR TEAM+29:51
64
Christopher Hamilton
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+30:00
65
Fran Miholjević
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+31:12
66
Tim Rex
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+31:17
67
Johan Jacobs
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+31:17
68
Andreas Leknessund
UNO-X MOBILITY+32:46
69
Mick van Dijke
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+33:49
70
Gianni Moscon
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+33:49
71
Jardi Christiaan van der Lee
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+33:49
72
Darren Rafferty
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+33:49
73
Luca Vergallito
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+33:49
74
Warren Barguil
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+33:55
75
Alec Segaert
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+35:32
76
Corbin John Strong
NSN CYCLING TEAM+35:55
77
Joshua Kench
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+35:55
78
Nicholas Schultz
NSN CYCLING TEAM+35:55
79
Robert Stannard
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+35:55
80
Fredrik Dversnes
UNO-X MOBILITY+37:10
81
Rasmus Pedersen
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+38:30
82
Johan Price Pejtersen
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+38:30
83
Thomas Pesenti
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+38:30
84
Alessandro Tonelli
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+38:30
85
David Gonzalez Lopez
PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM+38:30
86
Markus Hoelgaard
UNO-X MOBILITY+38:30
87
Harold Martin Lopez Granizo
XDS ASTANA TEAM+38:30
88
Guillermo Thomas Silva Coussan
XDS ASTANA TEAM+38:30
89
Ivan Garcia Cortina
MOVISTAR TEAM+38:30
90
Alessandro Pinarello
NSN CYCLING TEAM+38:30
91
Diego Pablo Sevilla Lopez
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+38:30
92
Orluis Alberto Aular Sanabria
MOVISTAR TEAM+38:30
93
Jefferson Cepeda Ortiz
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+38:30
94
Jasper Stuyven
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+39:38
95
Oliver Naesen
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+39:38
96
Ben Turner
NETCOMPANY INEOS+39:38
97
Jan Christen
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+39:38
98
Filippo Ganna
NETCOMPANY INEOS+39:38
99
António Tomas Morgado
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+39:38
100
Martin Marcellusi
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+39:38
101
Toon Aerts
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+39:38
102
Timo Kielich
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+40:22
103
Jonas Geens
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+40:22
104
Filippo Turconi
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+40:22
105
Nikita Tsvetkov
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+40:22
106
Luca Paletti
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+40:22
107
Cyril Barthe
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+40:22
108
Mattia Bais
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+40:22
109
Mirco Maestri
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+40:22
110
Francesco Busatto
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+40:22
111
Madis Mihkels
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+40:22
112
Gijs Leemreize
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+40:22
113
Filippo Zana
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+40:22
114
Andrea Raccagni Noviero
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+40:31
115
Rémi Cavagna
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+40:44
116
Axel Huens
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+40:49
117
Giovanni Lonardi
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+40:58
118
Vicente Rojas Naranjo
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+41:47
119
Rémy Rochas
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+41:47
120
Paul Penhoet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+41:47
121
Andréa Mifsud
TEAM POLTI VISITMALTA+41:50
122
Jonathan Milan
LIDL-TREK+42:59
123
Robert Donaldson
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+43:34
124
Jensen Plowright
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+43:34
125
Hartthijs de Vries
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+43:41
126
Enrico Zanoncello
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+43:52
127
Manuele Tarozzi
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+43:52
128
Pascal Ackermann
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+43:57
129
Ryan William Mullen
NSN CYCLING TEAM+44:01
130
Dion Allan Smith
NSN CYCLING TEAM+44:01
131
Ethan Kane Vernon
NSN CYCLING TEAM+44:03
132
Maximilian Richard Walscheid
LIDL-TREK+44:03
133
Frank van den Broek
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+44:03
134
Sean Flynn
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+44:03
135
Tim Torn Teutenberg
LIDL-TREK+44:03
136
Tim Naberman
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+44:09
137
Casper Cornelis van Uden
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+44:09
138
Fabian Lienhard
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+44:09
139
Robin Froidevaux
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+44:09
140
Arjen Livyns
XDS ASTANA TEAM+44:09
141
Nico Denz
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+44:09
142
Dries van Gestel
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+44:09
143
Paul Magnier
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+44:09
144
Tomas Kopecký
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+44:09
145
Matyáš Kopecký
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+44:09
146
Fabio van den Bossche
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+44:09
147
Mikkel Norsgaard Bjerg
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+44:09
148
Ayco Bastiaens
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+44:09
149
Niklas Larsen
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+44:09
150
Tord Gudmestad
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+44:39
151
Sakarias Koller Løland
UNO-X MOBILITY+44:39
152
Simone Consonni
LIDL-TREK+44:39
153
Luca Mozzato
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+44:39
154
Filippo Magli
BARDIANI CSF 7 SABER+45:03
155
Matteo Malucelli
XDS ASTANA TEAM+45:14
156
Elmar Reinders
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+45:27
157
Lukáš Kubiš
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+45:27
158
Dylan Groenewegen
UNIBET ROSE ROCKETS+45:27
159
Tobias Lund Andresen
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+45:27

Cover image credit: Marco Alpozzi

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Pro cycling contributor

Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked in cycling for well over a decade with his articles being featured across publications such as Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Cyclist, Rouleur, Eurosport, Road cc, Domestique, and more.

As well as writing, Tim has worked as a social media and press manager for professional teams Human Powered Health, Global 6, and Saint Piran across Europe as well as commentating on races such as the African Continental Championships, Tour de Feminin and multiple rounds of the British road and circuit series for Golazo and Monument Cycling.

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