Jonas Vingegaard claimed the Giro d'Italia leader's pink jersey for the first time after a solo summit victory on stage 14, completing a hat-trick of stage wins. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider attacked with less than 5km remaining on the gruelling 133km route from Aosta to Pila, proving too strong for his rivals in the Alps.
Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished second, 49 seconds behind, with former winner Jai Hindley of Australia taking third. Vingegaard's teammates set him up for the win on the final climb to Pila, which featured 20 hairpins, where race leader Afonso Eulálio and many others struggled.
“Today we made a plan from the start with the team, and we wanted to control the race, and that’s what my teammates did,” Vingegaard said. “It was really impressive how they rode, and I’m so proud of my teammates, and I’m proud that I can pay them back, it’s a super nice win.”
Portugal's Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who had held the pink jersey since stage five, trailed in almost three minutes behind Vingegaard and dropped to second place, 2min 26sec off the lead. The Dane, already successful on stages seven and nine, looks set to win the Giro at his first attempt, aiming to become the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours.
Sunday's stage 15 takes the riders 157km from Voghera to Milan.
