“Unfortunate that Jonas Vingegaard didn’t manage to take any bonus seconds” - Visma admit missed Giro d’Italia chance but insist safety came first

Team Visma | Lease a Bike ticked the main box on Stage 4 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, even if Jonas Vingegaard missed the chance to edge closer to the maglia rosa.

After the chaos of Bulgaria, the opening day on Italian soil brought another potentially dangerous test. Wind, a long climb, a fast descent and a reduced sprint in Cosenza all made positioning crucial.

Visma came through it with Vingegaard safely in the front group, but the Dane was unable to take bonus seconds at the Red Bull intermediate sprint, where Jan Christen, Giulio Pellizzari and Giulio Ciccone all moved ahead of him.

That left Vingegaard 11th overall, still 10 seconds behind new race leader Ciccone, after a day when Visma again prioritised control, protection and avoiding trouble.

Visma began the stage with one fewer rider after Wilco Kelderman was forced to withdraw due to the lingering effects of the mass crash on Stage 2. The Dutchman had been expected to play an important support role for Vingegaard in the mountains, making his early exit a clear blow to the team’s Giro plans.

Even so, Visma were prominent once the race reached Italy. With early wind making the peloton nervous, the team moved Vingegaard towards the front before the key climb of Cozzo Tunno, where Movistar’s pace quickly stripped away many of the sprinters and reduced the bunch.

Sports director Marc Reef said the team’s main priority had been clear from the start. “Before the stage, we had clearly identified staying out of trouble as the main objective today,” Reef said in Visma’s post-stage report. “The wind at the start made things nervous, and the pace was high right from the beginning. That’s why we made sure Jonas was well positioned near the front on the climb and the following descent. Timo and Tim played a huge role in that and really put in a lot of work.”

Visma had five riders in the front group after the climb, with Vingegaard joined by Davide Piganzoli, Bart Lemmen, Victor Campenaerts and Sepp Kuss. Timo Kielich and Tim Rex later came home more than 14 minutes down after their work earlier in the stage.

The one frustration for Visma came at the Red Bull intermediate sprint. Campenaerts helped launch Vingegaard, but the Dane was unable to take any time bonus as Christen powered through to claim six seconds, with Pellizzari taking four and Ciccone two.

Those seconds helped Christen move to second overall, four seconds behind Ciccone, while Vingegaard remained at 10 seconds. “We stayed attentive on the climb and still had five riders in the front group,” Reef said. “It’s unfortunate that Jonas didn’t manage to take any bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint, but the most important thing today was crossing the finish line safely in the front group. We achieved that, and we can be very satisfied with it.”

It was a telling line from Visma after a Giro already shaped by crashes and abandonments. UAE Team Emirates-XRG have lost Adam Yates, Jay Vine and Marc Soler, Bahrain Victorious have lost Santiago Buitrago, and Visma themselves are now without Kelderman.

In that context, Vingegaard’s Giro has so far been about staying out of disaster as much as taking time. His Stage 2 attack showed his condition, but Stage 4 underlined the more cautious side of Visma’s race management.

Jhonatan Narvaez won the stage for UAE ahead of Orluis Aular and Ciccone, with Vingegaard finishing safely in the same group in 18th place. The race now moves towards another day of climbing, with Visma still insisting that keeping their leader safe remains the first job before the bigger mountain tests arrive.