The first stage out of the second rest day was a compact 113 km Swiss mountain test from Bellinzona to the climb at Carì, and Visma | Lease a Bike controlled it from the gun. An early move with Johan Jacobs, Diego Ulissi, Markel Beloki, Nelson Oliveira and others was kept on a short leash, never allowed beyond roughly two minutes. Across the day's earlier climbs the breakaway reshuffled, with Giulio Ciccone cresting first repeatedly to chase the mountains jersey, leading over the opening two climbs and pressing on the third and fourth before the race left the Brenno valley circuit.
On the final ascent to Carì the GC group thinned quickly. Giulio Pellizzari was dropped early and faded badly, while Afonso Eulálio and Ben O'Connor also lost contact with the leaders. With 6.5 km to go the lead group held just Vingegaard, Davide Piganzoli, Gall, Arensman, Bernal and Hindley when the pink jersey attacked. He opened a gap immediately and, as on previous mountain days, only Felix Gall briefly responded before cracking and slipping back to the chasers.
Vingegaard rode out to a lead of more than a minute. Inside the final 2 km Thymen Arensman attacked the chase group, with only Gall and Hindley able to follow and Derek Gee-West clawing back on just before the flamme rouge. Vingegaard took the win uncontested, Gall produced a sharp late acceleration to take second, Hindley was third and Arensman fourth. The result tightened the battle behind: Gall, Arensman and Hindley are now all within a minute of one another on GC, setting up a fascinating fight for the final podium in the last week.