Jonas Vingegaard hit back at rivals who have tried to take advantage of his recent illness at the Giro d'Italia, saying 'they can try' but that he was feeling almost back to normal as the peloton raced into Verbania for stage 13 on Friday.
The Visma-Lease a Bike leader, and favourite to win the overall title, was hesitant to speculate how he would be feeling ahead of the next mountain test on stage 14, set to finish atop Pila on Saturday, but said he didn't think his recent illness would affect his performance.
"I wasn't trying to hide anything. Anyway, it started before the rest day, and so far I'm beginning to feel better, and after the rest day I felt better," Vingegaard told the press in the mixed zone ahead of stage 13 in Alessandria.
"If they think they can use it for something, then they can try, but I'm up to my normal again."
Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike responded to speculation about his illness earlier in the week, revealing on Thursday's stage 12 that their team leader and some teammates had felt unwell after the rain and cold on several stages during the first week of the three-week Grand Tour.
The peloton enjoyed a much-needed rest day on Monday before week two of racing kicked off with a 42km time trial that finished in Massa.
Vingegaard was expected to take the magila rosa off the shoulders of Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), and while he managed to pull back significant time, it was not enough to move into the race lead.
At the start of stage 13, Vingegaard sits in second place overall at 33 seconds back, and it is anticipated that he will move into the overall race lead on the upcoming stage 14 to Pila, which climbs up to 1,793 metres.
The next two major mountain stages will take place in the third week, with the back-to-back grand finale on stage 19 at Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) and stage 20 at Piancavallo.
He admitted that while his health is not yet completely back to normal, he is recovering, and any remaining symptoms would not affect his racing.
"Of course, I still feel it a little bit, but I don't think that it's something I feel on the bike," Vingegaard said.
Vingegaard did not want to speculate on the possible outcome of the race on Pila in his interviews with the press ahead of stage 13. "At the moment, I'm not thinking about tomorrow. I think today will be a pretty hard final. It turned out to be a pretty hard day. First of all, I have to focus on today, and in the afternoon, I'll start focusing on tomorrow."
Vingegaard finished stage 14 in Verbania among the main field after a large breakaway gained more than 13 minutes with Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) taking the stage win. He maintained his runner-up place in the overall classification at 33-second behind Eulálio, while Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) remains in third place, 2:03 down.
"It was a good day. We came through it in a good way. It was very warm but yeah, I think a lot of GC guys were thinking about tomorrow already, so not a lot of action there, but that is how it is," Vingegaard told the press in the mixed zone. "We didn't want to attack today, we choose our days, and today we didn't want to go for it."
Asked if there would be a big attack on stage 14, Vingegaard said, "It depends on how the legs are, obviously. Of course, if I feel good, it would be nice to go for it."
The weather at the Giro d'Italia has improved in the second week of racing to temperatures between 20°C and 25°C along the coast. Moving inland, however, temperatures have risen to nearly 30°C and the race to Pila is expected to be warm.
Vingegaard said that while the heat could play a factor on the mountainous stage 14, he didn't think it would impact him.
"Normally, the training for the heat has been coming by itself by being at the training camps that have been quite warm, and it's the same this year," Vingegaard said. "Normally, I'm really good in the heat, and I like it better than the cold."
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