The stage to Milan was considered one of the few remaining opportunities for the sprinters. On a flat course, the sprint teams immediately took control and seemed to keep four early attackers within reach. But the opposite proved true: during the final local lap in the Italian fashion capital, the gap to the breakaway stopped coming down, and the quartet began to sense a shot at the stage win.

Vingegaard, surrounded all day by his six teammates, had already drifted toward the back of the peloton by that point. The Dutch squad stayed out of the battle at the front and eventually watched Fredrik Dversnes Lavik triumph ahead of the charging peloton. Nothing changed in the general classification on Sunday, meaning leader Vingegaard still holds an advantage of more than two minutes over his closest rival, Afonso Eulálio.

At an average speed of more than 51 kilometers per hour, the fifteenth stage of this Giro d’Italia goes down in history as the fastest stage ever in the Italian cycling race. “It was anything but an easy day”, Vingegaard says afterward. “It was quite impressive that the attackers were able to stay ahead today. The pace was incredibly high. Luckily, we came through the stage well as a team. I really enjoyed racing in the pink jersey for the first time.”

There will be no racing in northern Italy tomorrow as the riders enjoy the third rest day of the Giro d’Italia. Racing resumes on Tuesday with a demanding mountain stage featuring a summit finish in Carì (11.6 km at 8%).