Vingegaard conquers Blockhaus mountain for first Giro d'Italia stage win

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BLOCKHAUS, Italy (AP) — Jonas Vingegaard surged away from the peloton to win on the Blockhaus peak in the seventh stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday and cut into Afonso Eulálio's overall lead.

Vingegaard pushed on alone on the final stretch of the mountain to claim his first career Giro stage win by 13 seconds from Felix Gall. No other rider finished within a minute. The 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley was third fastest, 1 minute, 2 seconds off Vingegaard.

“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," Vingegaard said after what he called a “very tough climb” battling headwinds.

“I’m definitely happy that I could take back some time and that was a good day for me.”

The at times wet and windy stage lasted over six hours and was the toughest test yet for the general classification contenders.

The Giro's longest stage at 245 kilometers (152 miles) took the peloton from the coastal city of Formia high into the Apennine mountains.

Eulálio took the pink jersey on Wednesday but struggled on the Blockhaus and lost contact with the leaders with just under six kilometers (four miles) to go.

He finished nearly three minutes down on Vingegaard and remains in the lead but with his advantage cut to 3 minutes, 17 seconds. Gall is 17 seconds further back in third.

The 109th men’s Giro ends on May 31 in Rome.

The women’s Giro runs from May 30-June 7 with Italian rider Elisa Longo Borghini as the defending champion.

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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling