Gall becomes bigger competitor for Vingegaard than Arensman, says Visma | Lease a Bike

Despite a cough and a less-than-great time trial, Jonas Vingegaard remains the top favorite to win the Giro d'Italia. However, Visma | Lease a Bike team director Marc Reef expects the other teams will not accept that easily.

Vingegaard is still trailing the pink jersey Afonso Eulalio by half a minute, but in turn, the Dane has already gained a minute and a half on Thymen Arensman and even two minutes on Felix Gall.

"The outcome of the time trial has placed the responsibility with Bahrain Victorious," Reef says to cycling journalist Daniel Benson. "They started controlling the race in stage 11 until Netcompany INEOS took over. But in the remaining stages, Bahrain will probably have to expend some of their energy as well. That we don’t have to do that only benefits us."

"We also share aligned interests on Saturday because I still believe that Eulalio can deliver a good overall classification, and Bahrain thinks so too," Reef outlines. "He still holds a solid lead over many rivals. In that respect, our interests are the same. That gives us an ally, which only helps. We don’t share our information, but we do talk and when you have the same interests, you try to support each other. We both, however, follow our own plans."

Reef sees the biggest competition for Jonas Vingegaard not coming from Bahrain and Eulalio. The team director points to Gall as the main rival. "After everything we have seen in recent days, the biggest threat will come from him. We know Arensman always performs well in the third week, but overall Gall climbs better than him."