Jonas Vingegaard admitted there was nothing he or anyone could do when Tadej Pogačar attacked Saturday's queen stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Monte Carpegna, the Danish climber instead preferring to take his anger out on the quality of the roads and swathes of gravel on the technical descent off the climb.
The Jumbo-Visma leader finished second on the stage, 1:03 behind Pogačar, and now lies best of the rest at 1:52 down ahead of Sunday's flat finale. The Dane was part of the lead GC group when Pogačar jumped away 16 kilometres from the line, but neither he nor his rivals could do anything about the Slovenian's attack.
"I think I can be pretty satisfied with how it went," Vingegaard said shortly after the finish. "Tadej was just incredible when he went. He put a minute into us on the climb. He was just in a league of his own.
"I was already on the limit, so I didn't even try to go with him. He was just incredible today and so much better than anyone else.
"I guess I'll finish second on GC. There's still one day to race but I'm super happy. The only bad thing this week, if you can say that, was my time trial. Other than that I'm happy with my week here."
Vingegaard was satisfied with his performance, then. But he did not have similar feelings about the condition of the descent off the climb.
The riders covered the climb and descent twice. While long sections were freshly asphalted, the many hairpins and exposure to the Italian winter meant there was gravel on key lines on the way down.
Movistar's Enric Mas lost any hope of a final podium place when his front wheel slipped out and he crashed hard on the first corner of the second descent off the snow-lined mountain. The Spaniard eventually crossed the line over five minutes down, sporting road rash and cuts, but having avoided serious injury.
Pogačar said after the stage that he was not happy that Bahrain Victorious went on the attack on the first descent and preferred to go clear alone on the climb to decide his own pace and lines for the final descent.
Vingegaard, however was more vocal, taking a stand for rider safety.
"I want to make one remark about the stage: the downhill was really badly cleaned," he said. "There was so much gravel on the descent it was bad. I don't think that's good enough and that we have to tell [the organisers]. I think they should do better.
"I think they cleaned the road from the snow but there was still a lot of gravel on the road. You also saw that Enric Mas crashed in the first corner on the downhill. There was so much gravel, it was so dangerous. I really don't think it was good enough."
