'We wanted to try and win in the pink jersey' – Jonas Vingegaard soars to victory on Giro d'Italia stage 16 to cement overall lead

Jonas Vingegaard celebrates winning stage 16 — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Jonas Vingegaard soared to a fourth stage victory at this year's Giro d'Italia on stage 16 of the race, cementing his lead in the pink jersey in the process.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has triumphed on every mountain-top finish at this year's Giro, and it was no different on Tuesday, as he put decisive time into his rivals. He now leads second-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by just over four minutes, who finished second, ahead of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Vingegaard's team had softened up the peloton on the mountainous day in Switzerland, with former race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) dropping early on the final climb to Carì, before the man in pink launched his move with 6.6km to go. No-one could follow, with Gall briefly trying, before giving up his chase. By the finish, the Dane had put over a minute into his challengers.

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With five stages to go, Vingegaard now has a bigger margin over second place than every edition of the Giro in the last 10 years, aside from Tadej Pogačar's triumphant ride in 2024. Eulálio losing time meant the top 10 was mildly reshuffled, with Gall moving to second, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) now in third place, and Hindley into fourth, while the Portuguese rider is in in fifth.

"My teammates and I were very motivated for it," the stage winner and race leader said. "We wanted to try and win in the pink jersey, and it can also go wrong, so we chose the first option to do it. If we failed, then we’d have another one too.

"I think it was a very nice, very hard climb. It’s a long climb, it took around half an hour I guess. My teammates again did an amazing job, they pulled from the start, and they didn’t give the breakaway any chances today, and on the last climb then they reduced the bunch. Then I had to do the rest, and I’m happy once again that I can pay off my teammates."

Asked if his eyes were now on six stage wins, as Pogačar did in 2024, Vingegaard replied: "No. I take it day by day. Now I have four stages and we will see what we’ll do for the rest of the week."

"They showed again who is in charge again, as a team," Gall said. "He's just doing his thing."

The short day was animated by an early break which included Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Einer Rubio (Movistar), with Ciccone in particular seeming to hunt for mountains points. However, the escape never got enough leeway to challenge for the stage win, with Visma-Lease a Bike in control of the day.

One team did briefly appear on the front on the final climb – Red Bull – but this appeared to only achieve harm to their own aspirations, with Giulio Pellizzari dropping back almost immediately as the team began to pull.

There are two more key general classification days to come at this Giro, in the Dolomites and Julian Alps on stages 19 and 20, and it is very much Vingegaard's race to lose.

Results

Giro d'Italia stage 16: Bellinzona > Carì (113km)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 113km in 2:57:40
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:09
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:11
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:14
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +1:18
6. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:34
7. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +2:04
8. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:18
9. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:55
10. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets, +3:04

General classification after stage 16

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 62:10:26
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:27
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:00
5. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +5:40
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:09
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:14
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:57
9. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +9:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +9:44

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Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.

Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.