Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is eyeing the best opportunity yet to really live up to his status as the heavy pre-face favourite at the Giro d'Italia, with the first 'real mountaintop finish' of the 2026 Giro arriving on Friday's seventh stage to Blockhaus.
Across six hectic stages, the Dane has so far only launched one attack, on stage 2 in Bulgaria, but that came to nothing as the leading group of three he formed on the road to Veliko Tarnovo was brought back in sight of the line.
The Blockhaus climb presents a vastly different beast entirely to the 3.9km Lyaskovets Pass, though, with its 13.6-kilometre length and 8.4% average gradient, leaving "nowhere to hide", according to Vingegaard.
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While snatching the pink jersey this early looks unlikely, thanks to Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) building a 6:22 lead from the breakaway on stage 5, Visma will be massive favourites to take control of the race and move into a commanding position with Vingegaard over their main rivals.
"No, for sure, now [Eulálio] is in the jersey with more than six minutes, so it's a good gap he has," said Vingegaard before stage 6 in Paestum.
"I think he can keep it for a bit of time, because even with tomorrow's Blockhaus stage, he's a good rider, so it's not just like you're going to take six minutes out of him in one stage. He will keep the jersey for a bit, that's for sure.
"Blockhaus is a climb where you cannot hide. It will for sure be a stage where it will be a fight for the GC guys. Who knows, maybe we fight for the stage win, that would also be nice. But it's not only up to us, also other teams as well."
Vingegaard is no stranger to making a statement on early mountain stages in previous Grand Tours, taking more than a minute on Tadej Pogačar at the 2023 Tour de France on just the fifth stage, and attacking away from the entire field of last year's Vuelta to win stage 9 to Valdezcaray.
Visma, who were more concerned about potential illness after a wet and cold fifth stage than their new 6:22 deficit to the race leader, maintained that same confidence just a day before Blockhaus. They obviously won't be telling anyone their exact plans, but a Vingegaard attack seems inevitable.
Make a difference on Blockhaus
"It's very important, because it's a mountain finish – the first real mountaintop finish – and it's a stage where we hope, and we want to make a difference. Hopefully we can do that," Visma-Lease a Bike Directeur Sportif Marc Reef told Cyclingnews on the morning of stage 6.
"He feels really good, and he feels ready to go for it. It's long and steeper than most of the climbs. I think this Giro, on average, the gradients of the climbs are higher than the last couple of years, and because he's that small and light, it also plays in his advantage."
Reef confirmed that Vingegaard hadn't been to recon the climb specifically in preparation for this Giro, but they have two recent examples from 2017 and 2022 to go off, alongside virtual methods for viewing the slopes without actually going there. Four years ago at the Giro, while Visma didn't play a huge role in the stage won by Jai Hindly, Reef was present as a DS.
"There's nothing really, specifically – we always prepare well, also in the busy schedule Jonas had, it was difficult to get to the Blockhaus and to also put that energy into that one single stage or climb," said Reef.
"We have the information from 2022 when we finished there, from 2017 also. Like everybody else, we've used Velo Viewer and the footage, so I think in that way, we are well prepared enough."
Another sign that a full Visma at the stage is coming tomorrow is that Reef noted how there is only one mountain stage to tackle in the second week, with Blockhaus and stage 9 to Corno alle Scale presenting the first opportunities for Vingegaard on his favoured ground.
In theory, the third week should be the decisive section of the 2026 race, as it was a year ago when Visma took overall victory at the last gasp through Simon Yates on stage 20. But Vingegaard isn't one to leave things late; when he's in top shape, he will attack, and his calmness in the days leading up to stage 7 is an ominous sign of what is likely to come.
"Of course, some riders will be a bit more defensive. Others are trying earlier already, but I think that it's an important finish anyway, because it's one of the long climbs in this Giro," said Reef.
"It's a steep one, a climb where differences can be made. Like how it was in 2017, the gaps were quite big, not maybe with the first four guys, but behind them," said Reef, referencing when Nairo Quintana climbed to victory and many of the gaps in the top 10 were larger than a minute.
"It depends a bit on how everybody will race on the climb, but of course, because in the second week it's only stage 14 that is a tough mountain stage, and then we go into the third week, from that perspective, it will be quite an important day tomorrow."
Reef isn't quite sure what to expect from Eulálio when it comes to the climb itself, but he does suspect that the rising Portuguese talent will at least hold onto the pink jersey until stage 8.
"It's difficult to say, on short, relatively short efforts, he's pretty good; that's what he's shown already the last two years," he said. "He's allowed to surprise, of course, but normally he will still be in the lead after tomorrow's stage."
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