Rivals have no answers as Vingegaard crushes solo victory and pads GC lead in Visma powershow that has some raising questions of ‘greed.’
(Photo: Getty Images)
Updated May 26, 2026 09:46AM
Jonas Vingegaard delivered on a Visma-Lease a Bike assault on the Swiss Alps to take a picture-perfect victory in the pink jersey on Tuesday at the Giro d’Italia.
The Dane stitched himself tighter into the maglia rosa with a crushing fourth win of this Giro on a blazing hot, lightning-fast 16th stage.
Vingegaard attacked away from five of his closest rivals 6.6km from the finish on the steep 12km climb to Carì.
Unlike other summit finales of this Giro, not even the ever tenacious Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA-CGM) tried to follow an attack that looked unstoppable.
The pink jersey drove it home all the way to the line for a peerless solo win that put him more than 4 minutes ahead on GC with two more mountain stages remaining.
“My teammates and I were very motivated to win in the pink jersey,” Vingegaard at the finish. “Obviously it can go wrong, so we chose the first option to do it, so if we failed, we’d have another opportunity.
“It was a very hard climb. It’s a long climb, it took around 30 minutes. My teammates, they did an amazing job,” Vingegaard said.
Gall sprinted out of a chase group for second place, 1:09 behind Vingegaard.
Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) followed close behind in a stage that shattered the top-10 of the general classification.
Italian hope Giulio Pellizzari slid further out of contention after he suffered another disaster day in his home grand tour. The 22-year-old was dropped by his own Red Bull team and lost nearly 20 minutes.
Former pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) and Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) were other major victims of Visma’s powershow Tuesday.
Visma doesn’t give the break a chance
Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike clearly won’t take any chances as the notoriously unpredictable Giro braces for a final push across the Dolomites and into Rome.
The Killer Bees suffocated the three-hour stage before Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli set Vingegaard loose on the mountaintop finish.
It was a brutal show of force that raised the inevitable questions of unnecessary “greed.”
“The team pulled from the start and didn’t give the breakaway any chances,” Vingegaard said at the finish. “Then I had to do the rest. I’m happy I could pay off my teammates.
“Now I take it day by day. Now I have four stage wins, we’ll see what we do for the rest of the week.”
Lidl-Trek running out of time
Lidl-Trek will be rueing another day without a victory at this Giro.
Giulio Ciccone animated the final breakaway of Einer Rubio (Movistar), Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5), Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana), and Johanatan Narváez (UAE Emirates XRG) in the quest for the team’s elusive stage win.
But their chances seemed doomed from the start. Visma kept the race on a leash from kilometer zero.
When Decathlon CMA-CGM started to pile on for Gall in the final hour, Ciccone and Co’s hopes were clearly crushed.
Lidl-Trek started the Giro with the capacity to win across all terrain with Ciccone, Gee-West, and Jonathan Milan.
Ciccone’s frustration Tuesday when he sensed his latest chance slipping away was very evident.