“Vingegaard is on another level” - Alberto Contador delivers blunt Giro d’Italia verdict after Jonas Vingegaard attacks on Stage 2

Jonas Vingegaard did not take the Maglia Rosa on Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia, but he still left a clear impression on Alberto Contador and Juan Antonio Flecha after an explosive first move in Bulgaria.

The Visma leader attacked near the top of the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass, with only Giulio Pellizzari and Lennert Van Eetvelt able to join him as the race split apart on the run-in to Veliko Tarnovo. The trio were caught in the final kilometre, where Guillermo Thomas Silva went on to win the stage and move into pink, but Vingegaard’s acceleration still offered the first real look at his condition in this Giro.

Speaking on Eurosport, Flecha argued that the Dane had already shown why he entered the race as the standout favourite. “Top favourite, that’s nothing new,” Flecha said during the broadcast. “He comes from a very good altitude training block after the Volta a Catalunya. In fact, I crossed paths with him in Barcelona, and he told me he was going to altitude. He went to train, he has done his work, he is the top favourite, and he is having a very good year.”

For Flecha, Stage 2 was less about time gaps and more about how Vingegaard handled another nervous day. The stage had been shaped by a huge crash on wet roads, which forced a temporary neutralisation and left several riders injured, delayed or out of the race.

“He is solving the problems,” Flecha added. “The important thing was not to take time at the finish, but to avoid problems. Vingo will give excitement, he is eager, attacking, and it is a pleasure to see him attack.”

Pellizzari was one of the standout riders of the day, bridging to Vingegaard after the Dane’s attack and then helping form the front trio with Van Eetvelt. It was a strong early statement from the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider, who finished fifth on the stage and moved into the top 10 overall.

Contador, though, was careful not to turn one sharp response into a direct challenge for Giro leadership. “I see him as interesting for fighting for the podium, not for fighting for the win,” Contador said. “Vingegaard is on another step, at another level, and to say anything else would be not to be faithful to reality.”

That does not mean Contador dismissed Pellizzari’s ride. Instead, he placed it in the context of a three-week race where opportunity and team hierarchy could both shape the Italian’s role.

“He is a young rider who is not going to have many opportunities, with Lipowitz, with Evenepoel, with Roglic,” Contador explained. “For the moment, he has been a little mortgaged. Right now, having leadership status in his home race, he will try to take advantage of it, but he will be dependent on Jonas Vingegaard, who is the clear favourite and the clear man to beat.”

Contador also pointed to crashes as the clearest danger to Vingegaard’s Giro ambitions. Stage 2 underlined that threat brutally, with UAE Team Emirates - XRG hit hard by a mass fall on wet roads before the final climb.

Adam Yates lost major time after crashing, while Jay Vine and Marc Soler were taken to hospital. Santiago Buitrago was also forced to abandon after being involved in the same incident.

For Contador, that is where the Giro can shift away from pure strength and toward survival. “Today it was there,” he said. “We saw how Adam Yates has said goodbye to the general classification and almost to the race, and that can be the biggest obstacle for riders like Vingegaard or the biggest ally for cyclists like Pellizzari.”

Flecha also looked beyond Vingegaard and Pellizzari when assessing the early GC shape, comparing Netcompany Ineos with Red Bull’s wider set of options.

“Comparing INEOS and Red Bull, I think that at INEOS they are both diesels, both Arensman and Bernal, and at Red Bull we have the explosiveness of Pellizzari, who responds in finishes like today’s, while Hindley needs more difficulty. They have that combination,” Flecha said. “At INEOS, they have less covered. They are two similar profiles, they are going to find the same situations. At Red Bull, they can cover more.”

After two stages, Vingegaard has not yet taken time on the riders still around him. But for Contador and Flecha, the early signs are already clear: the Giro favourite looks ready, Red Bull have cards to play, and the race’s biggest danger may be the chaos that arrives before the mountains.