Giro d’Italia 2026 Stage 7 recap: Jonas Vingegaard wins at Blockhaus as Felix Gall shines and Afonso Eulalio keeps pink jersey

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) became the 115th rider in history to win stages in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours with an impressive victory at Blockhaus on the first summit finish of the 109th edition of the Giro d’Italia.

On a day featuring 4,600 metres of climbing and over six hours in the saddle, Vingegaard attacked 5.5km from the summit of the iconic climb, with Italy’s Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) seemingly the only rider able to match his searing uphill pace on the exposed, wind-swept ascent.

But when it became clear that Pellizzari had bitten off more than he could chew, it was left to Austria’s Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) to lead the chase. Gall kept his cool and came within just 13 seconds of his Danish opponent at the line to lay down his early credentials as Vingegaard’s main rival for pink.

Pellizzari was caught by his team-mate Jai Hindley and fellow Australian Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) in the final kilometres – but it was Hindley, the 2022 winner at Blockhaus, and not Pellizzari, who won the sprint for third place and the final bonus seconds, as the trio came home just over a minute down.

Overnight race leader Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain-Victorious) put in a solid display to limit his losses to just three minutes and protect his pink jersey for at least another day.

Eulalio now holds a 3’17” gap on Vingegaard at the top of the general classification, with Gall up to third place at 3’34”, and team-mates Hindley and Pellizzari completing the new-look top five.

Victory in the longest Grand Tour stage in five years also saw Vingegaard take over control of the King of the Mountains competition by a single point over Spain’s Diego Sevilla (Polti VisitMalta).

Sevilla was part of the day’s five-man breakaway that formed right at the start of the 246km stage following an attack by Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). The Italian won the intermediate sprint to reduce his arrears in the points classification to the maglia ciclamino Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) before dropping back to the pack on the first climb to Roccaraso.

Sevilla took the points over the summit of the Cat.2 climb to extend his virtual lead in the blue jersey standings – until Vingegaard soared clear with his winning ride on Blockhaus.

Dutchman Tim Naberman (Team Picnic PostNL) was the next of the escapees to drop back ahead of the final climb, where Jardi Christiaan Van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) and Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) quickly distanced Sevilla.

Eulalio’s Bahrain-Victorious and Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike had combined throughout the day to keep the advantage of the move under the six-minute mark. Once Netcompany INEOS and Red Bull also came to the front ahead of the final ascent, the gap was whittled down to under two minutes.

Dutchman Van der Lee and Canada’s Zukowsky were caught with 6.5km remaining after Visma had blown apart the group of GC favourites through a sustained period of pressure from Sepp Kuss and Davide Piganzoli, teeing up Vingegaard’s attack perfectly while putting a huge dent into many riders’ GC ambitions.

Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS) came home 2’57” down, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was 4’27” behind and Movistar duo Enric Mas and Einer Rubio a whopping 5’47” in arrears.

Pellizzari looked like he had the Dane’s measure, but the Italian quickly went into the red, and it was the steady chase of Gall that ultimately proved more effective.

Saturday’s 157km Stage 8 from Chieti to Fermo is largely flat until a series of climbs pepper the finale and give it a classics-style feel. It could be a battle for survival for anyone still feeling the pinch after the savage climb to Blockhaus, where Vingegaard laid down a marker and Gall showed his class.

"Today we just wanted to go for the win and I’m extremely happy that I could finish off. My team-mates did an amazing job today and I’m happy that I can pay it off. We kept it open to see when the moment was there.

"There was a lot of headwind and so that made it hard – but to take back time on the pink jersey and take some time on my opponents is very good.

"For sure, Felix Gall is a big rival to me – I knew it already before the race. He’s a really strong guy that we really have to take into account."

Over five minutes still separate the top 10 riders in the general classification…

1. Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain-Victorious)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3:17
3. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) +3:34
4. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +4:25
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +4:28
6. Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla) +4:32
7. Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling) +4:56
8. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +4:57
9. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) +5:07
10. Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +5:11

"It was a really hard pace from Visma from the bottom and Gregor [Muhlberger] did an amazing job keeping me out of the wind because there were some big crosswinds on the climb and that made a huge difference. The whole team did a great job the whole day, but in the final with Gregor it was super nice.

"At the end, I was a bit annoyed that I couldn’t follow Jonas and Pellizzari but in the end it was the right choice. It was good that I did my own pace."

Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS) came home 2’57” down, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was 4’27” behind and Movistar duo Enric Mas and Einer Rubio a whopping 5’47” in arrears.

So, it’s a stage win and the blue jersey from the Danish favourite – but the pink jersey will stay on Eulalio’s shoulders. Here’s how they finished…

1 Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
2. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) +13
3. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +1:02
4. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +1:05
5. Ben O’Connor (Jayco AlUla) ”
6. Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling) +1:29
7. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +1:40
8. Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) +1:42
9. Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +1:44
10. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) ”

Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain-Victorious) comes home just over three minutes down – but, tellingly, ahead of many of the ostensible GC favourites. The Portuguese will keep his maglia rosa for at least another day.

And that is very interesting: it’s Jai Hindley, and not his Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team-mate Giulio Pellizzari, who sprints to third and takes the final bonus seconds, with the Italian settling for fourth ahead of Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla).

Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) comes home just 12 seconds down to throw down his GC credentials in this Giro.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) joins the exclusive club of stage winners in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours with a maiden Giro win atop Blockhaus.

Jonas Vingegaard is on course for a maiden stage win on the Giro d’Italia – but he won’t be in pink and he won’t have taken that much time from Felix Gall, who is only 15 seconds back. What he will have – on top of a stage win – is the climbing record for Blockhaus.

Here's how Vingegaard rode clear of his rivals...

The Austrian has not given up. He’s closed the gap to 18 seconds and this would throw a cat among the pigeons if he could return to Vingegaard now…

The lone leader is in the wooded section of the climb and he has 23 seconds on Gall and 58 seconds on the Australian duo, who have caught Pellizzari. The pink jersey is in a group that also includes Visma duo Piganzoli and Kuss at 2’05”.

It looks like the young Italian went too much into the red trying to keep up with Vingegaard because Gall catches and rides straight past him. Behind, it’s the two boys from Western Australia – Hindley and O’Connor – who have joined forces. The maglia rosa is 1’35” back so he should keep the race lead.

The Dane puts in another acceleration and the Italian cannot keep up. He drops back and will soon join forces with Gall in pursuit.

Ciccone, Hindley and O’Connor are a bit further back, with Arensman just behind.

Now the Dane goes – and he’s blown the field apart. Red Bull duo Pellizzari and Hindley manage to latch on, but the Australian cannot keep it up. Felix Gall also digs in, but he, too, cannot match the top two. So, Vingegaard and Pellizzari ride off into the sunset…

Afonso Ealalio finally loses touch as Sepp Kuss continues his pacing on the front of a GC group that is down to under 10 riders now.

Van der Lee and Zukowski are caught as the Visma trio continue this infernal pace. Derek Gee has fallen back but his team-mate Giulio Ciccone is still there. Damiano Caruso is with Gee.

Sepp Kuss, Davide Piganzoli and Jonas Vingegaard are driving the pace now – and they have put many riders into difficulty and off the back. Egan Bernal, Jan Christen and Enric Mas have all been dropped. Eulalio is still there, as well as Pellizzari, Hindley, Arensman, Gall, O’Connor and around 10 others.