As the second mass crash in as many days shook up the Giro d'Italia in Bulgaria, overall favourite Jonas Vingegaard was almost among the victims of the nasty incident which occurred on a wet descent with 23.3km to go, avoiding it by the skin of his teeth.
Vingegaard was well-positioned by the yellow and black jerseys of Visma-Lease a Bike throughout the long 221km stage from Burgas to Veliko Tarnovo, but he was just one spot behind and to the right of the first UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider who went down, taking down a further 20 or so riders with him.
Understandably shaken up having been the victim of similar crashes in the past – at Itzulia Basque Country in 2024, for example – Vingegaard's thoughts were with his competitors who came down, with Jay Vine, Marc Soler and Ådne Holter all being forced to abandon due to their injuries.
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Vingegaard warmed down on the turbo trainer as journalists waited to hear from the pink jersey, and after a shower and some time for reflection on the team bus, he confirmed just how close it was to all going wrong on Giro debut.
"Well, they crashed just in front of me, so it was pretty close," Vingegaard told a small group of reporters, after being asked if he felt any déjà vu from that infamous Basque Country crash.
"Yeah, it was different, but sure. It was a nasty crash; it looked like it was very slippery, and I just hope everyone is OK. I don't like crashes like this. I'm really thinking about everyone who crashed."
In the Visma-Lease a Bike car behind, sports director Marc Reef confirmed that they had mixed emotions after first hearing that some of their riders had gone down – Wilco Kelderman and Tim Rex, but this was not confirmed yet – and then finding out that Vingegaard had escaped the crash.
"I think everybody was close; it was almost in the first row that they went down. So in that situation, we heard over the radio immediately that there were riders from Visma on the ground, but also at the same moment, the riders said that Jonas went through," said Reef after debriefing with his riders at the team bus.
"Of course, you're happy in one moment that he's through, but in the same moment you're scared because the speed was really high, and we saw the fence on the side of the road, but luckily both [Rex and Kelderman] could step back on the bike in the first place. But we'll have to wait and see for the consequences."
Having got away from the incident intact, Visma were one of the teams who lit up the remaining 18km, after it was decided that the then neutralised race was safe to get going again.
With just the final categorised climb and rise to the finish in Veliko Tarnovo to tackle, several teams tried to attack on the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass (3.9 km at 6.8%), notably eventual winners XDS Astana and Bardiani, but Visma made the best impression when Vingegaard was brought to the front by young Italian Davide Piganzoli.
The Dane then made his first attack of the 2026 race, one which he and Reef both said had been the plan ever since the morning briefing. Also, given what had just happened, Vingegaard made the call that it was his "safest" route to the finish.
"It was definitely the plan the whole day. Especially with how it unfolded, I think it was the safest way to play the final; that the more you could thin out the group, the better it was for this last downhill," said Vingegaard, which Reef echoed.
"We spoke about the opportunity this morning. You always need to see what the situation is, but he felt good, and that was the moment to go for it," said the DS.
"We had already discussed that when he felt good, he could go for it, also as a test. And the final was suited to going with a smaller group than a bigger group, to be safer, so that all played into our cards."
Vingegaard's attack was only followed by Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché), with Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) later bridging across, but while they looked like they would hang on and play out the final in a four-man sprint, the cooperation faded, and they were caught in sight of the line.
He had no qualms with his rivals for how it played out, and said he was mostly just prioritising a safe arrival to the finish after what turned into a crazy day after a slow start to proceedings.
"We all tried to play the game a bit, that's how cycling is. I don't blame anyone, and I guess they don't blame me, because we played the game each one of us. We got caught, and that's how it is," said Vingegaard.
"If you can take time on your opponents, it's a good thing, but [this attack was] not necessarily to take the pink jersey already. The most important thing for all of us was to get safely through the day, all of us."
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