"The numbers I did on Blockhaus..." - Jonas Vingegaard's main Giro rival Felix Gall isn't close due to luck

Felix Gall is no new face towards the front of the mountainous races, but going into the second mountain stage of the 2026 Giro d'Italia, he is only 19 seconds away from Jonas Vingegaard and is effectively his closest rival. The Austrian has discussed this new position.

On the Blockhaus, his performance earned him a rise to the provisional podium in the race, even with Afonso Eulálio's current hold of the pink jersey. The Apennines' monstruous climb saw big gaps, and Gall was the only rider within a minute of the winner Jonas Vingegaard.

“He’s the best, the Grand Tour rider we have next to Tadej," Gall said in words to Domestique. "And I mean, it’s not like I beat him yesterday. He was still faster. He’s a better time triallist as well. For now, it’s such a long way still to go to Rome. Of course, I’m really happy with how it went yesterday, but it’s a long way…”

The climb on Friday's stage however really put Gall's talent on display. A pure climber, and a quality Grand Tour specialist, it is not a novelty for him to be putting in good rides over the Grand Tours. Last year he was fifth at the Tour de France and eighth at the Vuelta a España.

But in this Giro, he is an improved version of himself. “The numbers I did on Blockhaus were a big step from what I did in the past,” he confirms. At the end of a 245-kilometer long stage, it is a very promising sign.

There was a lot of discussion that Vingegaard's small gap to Gall at the finish was due to his irregular pacing strategy, as he attempted to drop Giulio Pellizzari. But Gall's performance puts that theory into question; replacing it with the most likely scenario which is that the Decathlon CMA CGM Team did actually surpass his own regular level.

“I’m super happy, it was a really good performance, and I have really good shape. It’s just the start of this Giro, but it gives me a lot of confidence for sure".

“A stage like the Blockhaus suited me well, because it was a long day with a really hard finish, so I was hoping to be good – but of course not to be this close.”

Nevertheless the 28-year old remains realistic. He knows the stage 10 time trial will see him lose meaningful time to Jonas Vingegaard, and that this would be very hard to recover at any point. His focus remains on the podium, a much more realistic, and still very important goal.

“I think the podium is the big goal, also just for me in general. I was top five in the Tour last year, so it’s the logical next step in my career to aim for a podium in a Grand Tour, which is, I think, a really ambitious and high goal. I want to try to achieve it this year".

"The Giro is the first chance to do it, and then there’s the Vuelta later in the season. But for sure, it’s still a very long way to go, and everything has to line up," he concluded.