Jonas Vingegaard's every move, every sneeze and every performance is scrutinised as he targets the 2026 Giro d'Italia. His time trial performance was dissected and scrutinised, and Danish television even believed they detected a change in his voice.
To respond to speculation about illness spreading in the peloton and to try to control the narrative as Friday's decisive mountain stage nears, Vingegaard and his Visma Lease a Bike team revealed that their team leader and some teammates had been sick after the rain and cold on several stages during the first week of the Corsa Rosa.
"Yes, we've had a bit of a cough and a tickle in the throat of some of the boys, but everything seems to be fine now," Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Jesper Mørkøv told Danish TV channel TV2.
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"He (Vingegaard) has also been one of them, but everything seems to be fine."
Vingegaard confirmed he was a little sick before the rest day, but that he is already feeling better.
"I have also had a little bit, but it was already before the rest day, so it is already behind me. It is much better now than it has been, Vingegaard said, according to Danish website Feltet.
"There have been quite a few in the peloton, and you can tell that there are many who have had something. So it is definitely something you have to be careful with."
Vingegaard finished safely in the front peloton in Novi Ligure and kept the blue mountains jersey. Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) snatched the Red Bull KM sprint and the six-second time bonuses to extend his lead over Vingegaard to 33 seconds. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) is third overall at 2:03.
Visma-Lease a Bike amassed around Vingegaard like protective bees during the stage and especially on the late climb when Movistar upped the pace and dropped sprinters Paul Magnier, Jonathan Milan and their teammates.
Visma-Lease a Bike and Vingegaard were also attentive and up front in the final kilometres on a late climb, descent and a tight corner with 3.5km to go. As they eased, stage winner Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) took off alone and Visma-Lease a Bike logically left it to other teams to try to chase him.
"It was about being safe," Vingegaard said briefly after his podium obligations as mountains competition leader.
"We took the front to be on the safe side, and my team did a fantastic job today. They were super strong and did super well. So we stayed out of trouble and came through well," Vingegaard said.
"We pulled, but only to be in the front, and some teams probably didn't realise it until it was too late. It was good for Bahrain and a great stage win for them."
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