Jonas Vingegaard claimed his third stage win in the Giro d'Italia when he won the 14th stage to rob the pink jersey from Afonso Eulalio’s shoulders, harvesting the fruit of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's effort, grinding the peloton down across what became a brutal Aosta Valley mountain stage.
After Team Visma | Lease a Bike had controlled the race for most of the day, Vingegaard made his decisive attack on the final climb to Pila with just under five kilometres remaining and immediately pulled clear of his closest competitors to claim both the stage and the pink jersey in the race for the first time.
Felix Gall limited the damage to finish second, 49 seconds after, but overall leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) had to give up following the pace earlier on the stage to wave goodbye to the jersey which he had otherwise worn for more than a week. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third a further nine seconds behind.
"This is the victory I will remember the most", said Vingegaard in his winner's interview after the race. "Today we made a plan from the start with the team, and we wanted to control from the start, and that's what my teammates did. They did a fantastic job all day. It was really impressive the way they rode. I'm so proud of the team and proud that I can repay them", said Vingegaard.
"We agreed that when it got steeper at the end, we would try. I almost didn't have to attack because (Davide) Piganzoli removed everyone from my wheel. It was really impressive. The whole team deserves this victory, and I'm really happy about it."
Befor Sunday's flat 15th stage, Vingegaard has now taken a commanding overall lead 2,26 min ahead of Afonso Eulálio and 2,50 min. in front of Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM)