05/15/26 10:48:00
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05/15 10:47 CDT Vingegaard conquers Blockhaus mountain for first Giro d'Italia
stage win
Vingegaard conquers Blockhaus mountain for first Giro d'Italia stage win
BLOCKHAUS, Italy (AP) --- Jonas Vingegaard surged away from the peloton to win
on the Blockhaus peak in the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday and
cut into Afonso Eullio's overall lead.
Vingegaard pushed on alone on the final stretch of the mountain to claim his
first career Giro stage win by 13 seconds from Felix Gall. No other rider
finished within a minute. The 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley was third fastest, 1
minute, 2 seconds off Vingegaard.
"Today we just wanted to go for the win and I'm extremely happy that I could
finish it off. My teammates they did an amazing job today and I'm happy that I
can really pay it off," Vingegaard said after what he called a "very tough
climb" battling headwinds.
"I'm definitely happy that I could take back some time and that was a good day
for me."
The at times wet and windy stage lasted over six hours and was the toughest
test yet for the general classification contenders.
The Giro's longest stage at 245 kilometers (152 miles) took the peloton from
the coastal city of Formia high into the Apennine mountains.
Eullio took the pink jersey on Wednesday but struggled on the Blockhaus and
lost contact with the leaders with just under six kilometers (four miles) to go.
He finished nearly three minutes down on Vingegaard and remains in the lead but
with his advantage cut to 3 minutes, 17 seconds. Gall is 17 seconds further
back in third.
The 109th men's Giro ends on May 31 in Rome.
The women's Giro runs from May 30-June 7 with Italian rider Elisa Longo
Borghini as the defending champion.
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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
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