Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) completed his Grand Tour stage win set after winning Stage 7 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia on Friday, soloing to the line on the Blockhaus summit finish after 245km from Formia, afterwards saying he is "in super good shape" with the first week nearing its end.
In one of the longest Grand Tour stages in the last decade, Vingegaard came out on top after a little over six hours of racing with Felix Gall 13 seconds behind in second and Jai Hindley a further 49 seconds back in third. Giulio Pellizzari and Ben O'Connor rounded out the top five at +1:05. It was the Dane's first career Giro stage victory.
"I'm extremely happy with the victory today. It was a super nice day," Vingegaard said in a post-stage interview with Cycling Pro Net. "The team worked all day for me and obviously I'm super happy that I can pay them off and finish it off."
He twice credited the team after the finish. Visma-Lease a Bike controlled the race through the day before Vingegaard attacked on the final ascent, the first major summit finish of this year's Giro. He can definitely focus the majority of the thanks to Italian newby to the team, Davide Piganzoli, who demolished the peloton before Sepp Kuss then set up the winning move.
Asked whether Gall's proximity at 13 seconds surprised him, Vingegaard said it did not. "Felix is a super strong rider and he showed that again today," he said. "He's shown that many times already this year. That's no surprise."
Hindley, Pellizzari and O'Connor all finished more than a minute down on Blockhaus. Vingegaard himself called the stage "the first real GC battle" but remained elusive on his future tactics saying... "You will see."
Vingegaard now joins a select group of 115 riders across the sport's history to win a stage at the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and now the Giro d'Italia. It really did not take him long. His 10th Grand Tour stage win after taking four at the Tour and five at the Vuelta.
Weekend pressure
The next two days aren't for relaxing, though. Blockhaus may have taken the headlines for the first week but the 8th and 9th stages are also brutal on the legs. Stage 8 on Saturday runs 156km from Chieti to Fermo, with all four categorised climbs packed into the final 58km and a punchy cobbled uphill finish featuring ramps above 10%. Stage 9 on Sunday from Cervia to Corno alle Scale ends with a summit finish, the final climb stretching 12.8km at 5.9%.
"Tomorrow has quite some steep climbs and then Sunday we have an uphill finish again," Vingegaard said. "You have to be careful in the weekend coming."
Asked whether he was holding anything back for the third week, he said he was in good condition but stressed the length of the race. "I think I'm in super good shape," he said. "But the Giro is long and you have to be focused every day."
Much like when his arch rival, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), came to the Giro, Vingegaard is looking like he is going to deliver on his expected dominance. However, the Giro is long and, if last year has anything to show us, it is extremely unpredictable with changes and challenges coming all the time.
Vingegaard has also got to be wary as he hopes to head to the Tour de France after racing the Giro. Another similarity to when Pogačar raced here. But can the Dane match his rival to a T and win both?
Cover image: RCS Sport
