That Jonas Vingegaard won the first mountain-top finish of the 2026 Giro d’Italia doesn’t come as a shock. The overwhelming favourite for the maglia rosa did exactly what was expected and demanded of him on the 13.6km climb to Blockhaus in the Abruzzo Apennines. What was surprising was the identity of his nearest challenger – and how much of a challenger he actually was.
Felix Gall is one of the world’s best climbers. He won the queen stage of the 2023 Tour de France, and last year matured into a strong GC rider, finishing fifth at the Tour and eight at the Vuelta a España. But he’s never looked like a Grand Tour winner, let alone a favourite for a final podium spot. He does now.
When Vingegaard inevitably attacked with 5.5km to go of a 244km stage seven, Gall reacted along with Giulio Pellizzari. Gall didn’t last long on Vingegaard's wheel, but Pellizzari persisted. A kilometre later, the latter – many people’s predictions to be Vingegaard’s thorn-in-his-side in the absence of João Almeida – blew up. The young Italian had gotten too close to the fire and burned. Vingegaard was alone, his first ever stage win in the Giro a foregone conclusion.
But Gall didn’t panic, didn’t stress. “At first I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't follow Pellizzari and Jonas but in the end it was the right choice to ride at my own pace,” Gall said afterwards. Pellizzari battled hard but suffered, ultimately finishing three seconds adrift of his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammate Jai Hindley who crossed the line just a smidgen of a minute after Vingegaard. Pellizzari, 22, will learn how to judge his efforts. Gall, though, finished within 13 seconds of Vingegaard. In the final two kilometres, if the on-screen graphics were to be believed, Gall rode quicker than Vingegaard.
Visma-Lease a Bike would probably have assumed that Vingegaard would put a good chunk of time into the rest of the GC pretenders, and he did – riders like Egan Bernal (2:57 behind) and Enric Mas (5:47 back) were effectively knocked out of contention. But not to Gall he didn’t. It was only the first mountain stage, but perhaps there will be a tight battle for Giro pink, after all.
As things stand, courtesy of stage five’s drama, Afonso Eulálio remains in the race lead by 3:17, and the Bahrain-Victorious rider can be reasonably confident of keeping the maglia rosa until after the rest day. Sunday’s summit finish to Corno alle Scale isn’t as difficult as Blockhaus, but the Portuguese can probably expect to cede the lead to Vingegaard in Tuesday’s pan-flat 42km time trial.
Gall isn’t a terrible time triallist, but based on past TT performances, it’s projected he’ll ship around 60 to 90 seconds to Vingegaard. That’d give him a deficit of upwards of two minutes to the Dane at the race’s halfway stage – a time gap Vingegaard would have signed up for at the start. Gall as well. It’s a decent gap, but it’s not insurmountable.
Paul Seixas’ emergence as the man who, according to French hype, will finally absolutely, definitely, 100% guaranteed end France’s long, long, long wait for a home Tour de France win had put Gall in the shadows somewhat at his Decathlon CMA GCM team. But based on the first proper test at this year’s Giro, the Austrian is looking a good bet for a final podium spot. Luke Roberts, Decathlon’s sports director, said: “Felix has been waiting for today, for this hill-top finish. It was a great job by Felix, the way he paced it. He’s shown he’s got great legs and we’re happy he’s taken some time on some competitors.”
As for Vingegaard, winning on Blockhaus was essentially a tick-boxing exercise. As long as he stays upright – no easy thing in May in rain-prone Italy – and avoids illness, the two-time Tour champion should be too strong for the competition. “Today we just wanted to go for the win,” he said. “I’m definitely happy I could take back some time [on Eulálio] and take some time on my opponents. It was a good day for us.”
But even he tipped his hat to Gall and warned himself more than anyone else that he might have a genuine adversary, especially when the race reaches the Dolomites in a traditionally back-loaded final week. “For sure Felix Gall is a big rival to me,” Vingegaard acknowledged. “I knew it already before the race – he’s a very strong guy that we really have to take into account.”
Vingegaard didn’t win last year’s Vuelta by the huge, convincing margin that most had predicted – eventually beating Almeida by 1:16 – and the Giro might just be the same story. Vingegaard’s asserted who’s boss, but not necessarily his complete superiority.
