Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) emerged as Jonas Vingegaard's biggest contender at the Giro d'Italia after the first summit finish of the 2026 race, finishing second behind the Dane atop Blockhaus with only a narrow 13-second deficit.
Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team took control of the race on the 13.6km, before he launched his first attack 5.5km from the top. Only Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was able to follow, but he overextended and was dropped a kilometre later, before dropping several positions in the final 4km.
Contrastingly, Gall was unable to match the explosive Dane's first move, and with the Italian faltering, it looked as though this edition of the Giro was going to be over some 14 stages before the finale in Rome.
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But as the kilometres ticked by with Vingegaard solo, he was unable to make much of an impression on the 20-second gap to Gall, who caught and quickly left behind Pellizzari, before continuing to show he'd paced Blockhaus to perfection by closing seven more seconds to Vingegaard before they reached the line.
"At first, I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't follow Pellizzari and Jonas, but in the end, it was the right choice. It was good that I did my own pace," said Gall after the finish.
After his big day out at the Giro, Gall sits third overall, 3:34 behind pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who shipped heaps of time across Blockhaus's brutal exposed slopes, but only 17 seconds behind Vingegaard, and with a gap of at least 51 seconds to all of his other GC rivals.
With a top-five finish at the Tour de France already on his palmarès, Austria's Gall is among the best pure climbers in the world, also winning the queen stage of the 2023 Tour atop the Col de la Loze. However, he knows Vingegaard has a big advantage over him: time trialling.
"I'd say he's, for example, a much better time trialist than me for a start," said Gall, knowing that he will more than likely lose a chunk of time to Vingegaard and some of his other rivals on stage 10's 42km race against the clock in Tuscany.
"He's the best Grand Tour rider we currently have next to Tadej [Pogačar], so, for sure, I'm not thinking about how to beat him for now, I'm just happy with my performance."
Descending has also been a big problem for Gall in the past, so there are options for the likes of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Netcompany Ineos to try and attack him where he's uncomfortable. But climbing-wise, he was far and away the second strongest today.
While he moved down the Decathlon CMA CGM pecking order slightly for 2026, with new sprinter Olav Kooij and rising French super talent Paul Seixas taking on the Tour as planned leaders, Gall could still count on significant support at the Giro's first big GC test.
With violent crosswinds buffeting the riders the whole way up the exposed Abrusseze brute, Gregor Mühlberger had a big job ensuring his compatriot was shielded by the elements for as long as possible until Vingegaard made his inevitable move.
Gall was quick to mention him after taking a seat and recovering past the finish, but he also looked back on the 2022 edition of the race, when he made his Grand Tour debut as a 24-year-old and finished 70th.
"I think we got super, super lucky with the weather the whole day, and also we had a really nice tailwind all day. That cut the stage a bit shorter, which was nice," said Gall.
"I did Blockhaus in 2022 in my first Giro, and it was horrible. Back then, I could barely make it up, so today is nice to be back and come in second.
"It was a really hard pace from the bottom from Visma. Gregor did an amazing job keeping me out of the wind. There were quite a few crosswinds, actually, that made a difference. The whole team did a great job all day, but then in the final with Gregor it was super nice."
While Mühlberger won't be able to help him with the all-but-guaranteed time loss he will suffer during the only time trial of this year's race, Mühlberger will play a vital role on the coming mountain stages when Gall is back on favoured terrain.
He himself was modest in the fight against Vingegaard for pink, aware that he's up against a two-time Tour winner and reigning Vuelta champion. But his climbing looked vastly superior to those also aiming at the podium, and once the race reaches the Dolomites in week three, Gall could be on course for his best Grand Tour GC performance yet.
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