Jonas Vingegaard secured victories on stages 7 and 9 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, advancing his position in the general classification [1, 2]. On May 15, Vingegaard rode a solo breakaway to win the longest Giro stage in five years, covering approximately 244-245 km with a summit finish on the Blockhaus climb. He set a new record time of 38 minutes 22 seconds for the ascent [1, 3]. Felix Gall finished second, 13 seconds behind, with Jai Hindley third [1, 3]. Vingegaard’s winning time for the stage was 6 hours 9 minutes 15 seconds [1].
Despite the win, Afonso Eulalio retained the overall leader's pink jersey after stage 7, leading Vingegaard by 3 minutes 17 seconds in the general classification. Gall held third place, 17 seconds behind Vingegaard [1, 3]. Vingegaard said, "I'm definitely happy that I could take back some time. It's a good day for me, a good day for us. For sure Felix Gall is a big rival to me. I knew it already before the race, he's a really strong guy that we really have to take into account." [1]
Two days later on May 17, Vingegaard claimed his second Giro stage win with a late attack on the 184 km route from Cervia to Corno alle Scale. He crossed the finish line 12 seconds ahead of Felix Gall, completing the stage in 4 hours 20 minutes 21 seconds [2, 4]. The victory narrowed Vingegaard's overall time gap to Eulalio to 2 minutes 24 seconds. Gall remained third overall, about 2 minutes 59 seconds behind the leader [2, 4].
Reflecting on stage 9, Vingegaard said, "We didn't want to pull for the stage today and we realised quite quickly that Decathlon wanted to go for the stage. It's always nice with a win, something I'm super happy with. My team-mates did a super good job. Once the win was within sight, we decided on the last climb to maybe try to go for it. Felix did a very strong attack when he attacked and luckily I was able to follow. In the end, I tried myself and was able to take the win. I'm in a good situation at the moment for GC and, so far, everything is looking good for us. We are happy where we are." [2]
Vingegaard added, "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. I’m definitely happy that I could take back some time and that was a good day for me." [3]
Following stage 9, the riders had a rest day on Monday. The race will resume on Tuesday, May 19, with a 42 km individual time trial from Viareggio to Massa [2, 4].
