Gall and O'Connor impress on Blockhaus climb
Vingegaard takes solo Giro d'Italia victory as two ex-AG2R riders show their form
Somewhere in France Julien Jurdie must be smiling.
He was the director sportive at AG2R back in 2021 and 2022 when Felix Gall and Ben O’Connor were the team’s GC leaders for the Tour de France.
Anyone who watched the Netflix TDF series Unchained surely remembers Jurdie imploring, cajoling and commiserating with O’Connor who was struggling with crashes and intense pain.
Jurdie also attempted to get the most out of Gall, who was just beginning to show himself as an excellent climber. Gall struggled a bit with a new role as a team leader. Jurdie kept trying to build his confidence up.
A season of two later, ownership became increasing disappointed with the squad’s results and Jurdie was the scapegoat. Decathlon took over title sponsorship and then a miracle happened: Paul Seixas. (If Jurdie had that rider, he’d still have a job.)
Gall stayed with the re-branded team while O’Connor decided to ride for his home squad: Team Jayco AlUla. Life went on and the wheels kept turning.
Well, today, Jurdie is a proud man.
On the fearsome Blockhaus climb, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) attacked with 5.5 kilometers to the summit finish. At first only Jai Hindley (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) and teammate Giulio Pellizzari could keep his wheel.
Remember, this was the Blockhaus Blockbuster: 13.6 kilometers long and averages 8.4 percent. Only pure climber enjoys this kind of misery.
Felix Gall was the fourth man on the road and looked to be doing a fade out as the Visma superstar continued to punch the gas. Only he refused to fade.
Further down the road but also riding strongly was O’Connor. He eventually linked up with fellow Aussie, the dropped Hindley and they worked well together.
At this point, Vingegaard dropped Pellizzari and that was game over. He crossed the line with a solo victory. The Dane also cut in half his six minute deficit to the pink jersey of Afonso Eulálio. A good day’s work.
Gall kept driving forward and soon joined Pellizzari for about two seconds before moving past him. The Decathlon climber would yo-yo between 22 and 16 seconds from Vingegaard — and could actually see him up ahead.
By the finish, Gall closed the gap even further and rolled in just 13 seconds behind Vingegaard. Which officially counts as a fantastic day, proof of superb form and the title of Second Strongest Man in Giro.
The trio of O’Connor, Hindley and Pellizzari were next across, just over a minute off the winning time. Count that as an awesome accomplishment for both Gall and O’Connor.
We’d love to know Julien Jurdie’s reaction watching his two former riders performing so well on the epic Blockhaus climb. Something tells me Julien was yelling at the TV and punching the air in joy.