Jonas Vingegaard's rest day in the pink jersey begins with a long coffee, waiting to head out with his teammates: the Dane calls it "activation, tomorrow there's a short but intense stage". The schedule for the breaks will be defined by Campenaerts, the team's race director. Six stages remain until Rome and the Visma-Lease a Bike superstar leads with 2'26" over Eulalio and 2'50" over Gall. Tomorrow the race resumes with a hilltop finish at Carì in Canton Ticino. His press conference is, as is normal, a potpourri of questions and answers covering a wide range of topics.

Vingegaard, did you expect the Giro to be like this?
«It's more fun than I thought. After the first week I was a bit worried about the weather. But then we had extremely beautiful weather and there were so many spectators along the road, and you really feel that it's a special race. So it's been a really beautiful experience, really super pleasant. But the race isn't over until it's really over. Anything can happen: I could have a bad day, crash, get sick... you never know».

The final week begins with three hilltop finishes, the Dolomites...
«Already tomorrow in Switzerland it will be tough, a day when we GC riders will have to fight, and it will also be hot in the final week, or at least I hope so. I hope for nice weather rather than rain. I was in Tenerife before the Giro and it was really hot there, it helps to train at high temperatures before the race, because it's a fairly similar situation. Then there's Andalo, a somewhat tricky finale that could be for a breakaway, and finally two very hard stages in the Dolomites and at Piancavallo before Rome. This is by far the hardest week of the Giro. There are also many opportunities: we'll certainly choose our days and won't always race defensively. I don't want to choose to go for every stage, because if you go for every stage the Giro can become harder than necessary».

Have you done any reconnaissance?
«Sometimes it's nice to see some stages, but honestly half of what I see I forget later, in a sense you could say that sometimes it's a waste of time. Obviously some things always stick in your head but anyway, when you're climbing with gradients between 7 and 9%, I don't think it changes much knowing the road already».

Is there an achievement in the pink jersey you're missing?
«I'm here and I want to honor this race. Now I have the pink jersey and I also want to try to win a stage in the pink jersey. For me that would be a special feeling. I'll certainly try to win at least one more stage, but for now I won't say how many there will be...».

What impression is the Giro giving you?
«When you have the pink jersey in Italy, you feel that it's something special for Italians and for the Italian nation. And it is for me too. I've always enjoyed racing in Italy the times I've done it, but I also have to say that doing the Giro is something special. You feel that it's a special race for the Italian nation too, and it's nice for us riders as well, because it makes everything particular. For me it's really a wonderful experience».

What are your plans after the Tour?
«It's still too early to say whether I'll do the Worlds. There are still four months to go, so I don't have an answer. I've always said that now I'm doing the Giro and the Tour, that's my priority. After the Tour I'll see how I feel and make a decision».

How can the Giro help you for the Tour?
«I think it can bring me to a higher level. In recent years I've seen that, once I've done a grand tour, in the second one my level has been higher. That's what I hope. This time I chose this different approach to the Tour by doing the Giro, hoping to be better at the Grande Boucle, that's the plan».

Piganzoli?
«Well, to be honest it doesn't surprise me, I knew what he was capable of. Of course, maybe he's doing even better than I hoped».

Saturday Campenaerts said that after the victory you were joking saying you had legs so good you couldn't even feel the chain.
«Honestly I think I'm in extremely good form. I would never show up at this race without preparation, I'd say I'm almost at my maximum level».

Looking to the future: with the Giro you would have won all three grand tours, wouldn't this be the perfect moment to say this is your last season?
«In recent years I've always said I take it year by year. I've been doing that at least since my crash in 2024. At the moment I don't see myself retired, but as I said I go year by year. If I continue to have fun, I'll continue racing. This is my eighth year as a professional and honestly I don't see myself racing until I'm 35. I'm about to turn 30, so there aren't that many years left. And yes, I don't see myself changing teams, I'll end my career with this one».

What objectives do you have beyond the Giro and Tour?
«I haven't won all the week-long stage races yet, and it would be nice to manage that».

Every time you win you kiss the photo of your family on your bike. What do your wife and children tell you these days watching you on TV?
«They watch me from home and tell me they're extremely proud of me. And that makes me happy, knowing I can make them proud and dedicate my victories to them. They support me in everything I do, without them I couldn't win all these races».

Sometimes you accelerate while seated, sometimes you do it out of the saddle.
«We modified the bike position a bit because last year I had some saddle irritation issues. I tried to get more support from the saddle and this also makes it more comfortable for me to stay seated when I accelerate».

Before the Giro you said you would have liked to discover more Italian wines. How's that going?
«Unfortunately not very well. I would have liked to try a white wine from each region crossed by the Giro: that would have been my ideal scenario. But so far I've collected zero bottles, so it's not going very well. I hope that somehow someone can help me».