"I didn't actually plan to attack myself" - Felix Gall smashes direct rivals ahead of time trial but sees Jonas Vingegaard take the win from him

Felix Gall is in the shape of his life and is putting it to use at the Giro d'Italia. The stage to Corno alle Scale saw the unusual sight of Decathlon CMA CGM Team working all day long, so as to provide the Austrian with a chance to fight for the stage win. Whilst he could not beat Jonas Vingegaard, the Austrian gained time on all of his direct rivals with another stellar climbing performance.

“I am very happy that I can show such a high level again. I am only beaten by Jonas,” the Austrian said in a post-race interview. “The team did a great job again, all day long".

Rasmus Sojberg Pedersen and Tord Gudmestad almost fully on their own controlled the day's breakaway, which first included Einer Rubio, and later on Giulio Ciccone who also bridged across. Off the back of a tremendous ascent to Blockhaus, the Austrian climber wanted to keep the momentum going with his current form, and deployed his men to toughen up what would be an otherwise calm stage up until the summit finish to Corno alle Scale.

The work was effective, and even before the riders reached the decisive ramps of the final 3 kilometers, Giulio Pellizzari had been dropped - a big hit for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe who looked to be Visma's biggest rival entering the Giro.

But the team's work was mostly to toughen up the race ahead of the summit finish. He expected Jonas Vingegaard to attack first, but instead took up the initiative himself. “I didn't actually plan to attack myself, but the steep section turned out to be a bit longer than it looked on paper," he explained.

The form was undeniable. Gall created a gap to everyone except for the maglia azurra, who held on to his wheel and then attacked him in the final kilometer. Once again Gall settled for second, but in the grand scheme of things, to be disappointed would not be logic.

"I wanted to make sure it would be a very tough finale for everyone. That is why I tried it myself. It worked, it is okay that I am only beaten by Jonas.”

Gall has won (including bonifications) 44 seconds on Jai Hindley, 1:06 minutes on Ben O'Connor and 1:20 minutes on Giulio Pellizzari. Gall's main goal is the podium, and he has taken a huge step towards it today by putting in another massive climbing performance.

Whilst Afonso Eulálio remains in the race lead, Gall already has a lead of 1:33 minutes over Jai Hindley who follows him in the overall classification. Into the time trial he is realistic that he will be losing time, but his current form also indicates that he may be efficient at limiting the losses.

"That was also a bit in the back of my mind today. I wanted to have a gap for the time trial, which is obviously not my strongest point," he added. "Although I have worked on it a lot. I expect to lose time to my opponents, but I hope it won't be too much".