Free-to-air highlights of the Tour de France are to be shown on 5 in the UK this July, it was announced on Wednesday, after an agreement with TNT Sports.

The terrestrial channel, formerly Channel 5, has signed a deal until 2028 to show daily coverage of Tour, as well as highlights of the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, presented by Rebecca Charlton. The station will also show live coverage of the UK Grands Départs of the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2027. Highlights will be on 5 at 7pm every evening, starting Saturday 4 July in Barcelona. Daily highlights of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes will also be available on 5.

This season will be the first season in decades that the Tour will not be shown live, in full, on television for free. In 2025, it was revealed that ITV would no longer televise the Tour, the exclusive UK rights having been sold to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), the parent company of TNT Sports.

Live coverage in the UK will remain on TNT Sports and HBO Max, with contracts costing £30.99 a month, although it can be purchased for £25.99 a month on a 12-month contract.

Last month, Scott Young, EVP at Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, said: "I think you need to have a free-to-air product. And there will be a free-to-air product."

The announcement followed a "competitive tender process", according to a press release. The deal for Tour and Vuelta highlights lasts until 2028, with the Giro deal going to 2029.

"The Grand Tours are the most prestigious cycling events in the world, watched and adored by millions, and we are delighted that 5 will be their new free-to-air home in the UK," Reemah Sakaan, the president of 5, said. "Our daily highlights show for the Tour de France will be available to everyone at 7pm each evening this July and we’ll also have daily highlights through both the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia for the next three years, plus next year we’ll have live coverage of the Tour de France’s historic return to the UK.

"The Tour de France kicks off an incredible summer of sport on 5, adding to the rapidly expanding range of premium sport we have for people to watch, including the best of the action from the Commonwealth Games this summer. This new deal with TNT Sports reflects our long-term commitment to bringing brilliant coverage of the world’s best sporting events to millions of viewers and providing access to premium audiences for advertisers."

"By combining a strong free-to-air highlights offering with our comprehensive live coverage, we are delivering unprecedented access to the sport across every platform," Young said. "Cycling is one of the most compelling sports in the world, featuring extraordinary athletes and unforgettable moments, and it's important that those stories are shared with the widest possible audience.

"Expanding reach and engaging new audiences across our rights portfolio remains a key strategic priority, and partnerships such as this play an important role in achieving that ambition."

Charlton added: "It’s an absolute dream to have the opportunity to bring the racing to life for all of the cycling fans out there as well as guiding some new viewers along for the ride. We’ll be bringing highlights of all of the action as well as telling the stories around the racing and I for one, cannot wait!"

The 2026 Tour de France begins on Saturday 4 July, running until Sunday 26 July.

Jonas Vingegaard's racing setup has been pretty consistent over the years, even with the recent go-faster updates to the Cervélo S5. It has propelled him to so many wins across all the Grand Tours, including this historic Giro d'Italia, where he became just the 8th rider in history to win all three, with five stage wins along the way.

What is most surprising about Jonas's setup is how 'stock' it is - unlike Tadej Pogačar, for example, who has a raft of custom parts, including his infamous CarbonTi chainrings. You can buy almost everything Jonas uses from your local bike shop or preferred online retailer - including those bonkers pink-walled Vittoria Corsa Pros he used on the final stage into Rome.

Someone as prominent as Jonas will always be given things to test and sample before anyone else, like the limited-edition Nimbl x Nike collab shoes he wore on the final stage. On the whole, though, items such as his go-to sunglasses, the Oakley Velo Kato and Sutro Lite, and his instantly recognisable red Giro Eclipse Pro Spherical helmet appear to be stock and personalised for the occasion.

The Giro might now be over, and I, for one, have the post-Grand-Tour blues; however, you don't have long to wait. The build-up to the Tour De France starts this weekend, and the team will be back, covering the ups and downs of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (that's the Critérium du Dauphiné to us traditionalists).

Don't forget to keep an eye on the podcast Off The Back, as we build up to the Tour, where Jonas has a shot at joining a very elite club of just four riders to not only have won all three grand tours, but hold all three at the same time.

Everything featured in this article is available in the US, but if you are based here in the UK or elsewhere, you can find all the best deals below:

Stalwart Visma-Lease a Bike staffer Grischa Niermann will move to Lidl-Trek, it was revealed this week, reportedly replacing their long-standing general manager, Luca Guercilena.

The Dutch team's head of racing has been with the team in yellow since 2017, and is often a key staffing fixture on the ground at the biggest races. A former pro with Visma-Lease a Bike's previous incarnation Rabobank, 50-year-old German Niermann initially headed up the Rabobank development team after he retired in 2012, before becoming a director on the men's senior squad, then called LottoNL-Jumbo. He was promoted to the head of racing position in late 2024, after the departure of Merijn Zeeman. The German will continue to work for Visma until the end of August.

Niermann's move is part of continued and major shuffle within the Lidl-Trek management structure that began with Lidl's majority acquisition of the team in October last year. Since then the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank have been brought in – Andy as deputy general manager and Frank as a sports director. Now Niermann will be replacing Luca Guercilena – the highly respected general manager who has been with the set-up since 2011.

However, the new-look Lidl-Trek team has not had the best start to its season, with the men's and women's teams only gaining half the victories they had enjoyed this time last year – though those numbers have had a boost this week with wins by Jonathan Milan and Elisa Balsamo in the men's and women's Giri d'Italia.

Visma-Lease a Bike announced on Tuesday morning that Niermann's role will be filled by Marc Reef, a current sports director with the team who helped shepherd Jonas Vingegaard to his recent Giro d'Italia win. They also thanked Niermann for his work and "unwavering commitment" in a statement.

"I think like most of you are now, I was surprised when Grischa called me a couple of weeks ago to share his decision to leave," Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Pugge said on Tuesday.

"I'm very sad that Grischa is now leaving. He just started in his new role, and he was developing more and more. I'm disappointed to see him leave, because as a person and as a great sports director, I have a lot of respect for him, and together we achieved exceptional success, including multiple Grand Tour victories, and most recently our victory in Paris-Roubaix, which was the pinnacle, maybe, of what we tried to achieve.

"I'm very happy to have worked with Grischa, and I wish him all the best. He's close to my heart, and it's a friend, but he wants to move on, and I respect that choice."

Just like that, in a whir of freewheels and a flash of pink, the Giro d'Italia is over for another year. It crowned new champions in various classifications, some more unexpected than others, and yielded some hard-fought, heart-in-mouth stages in the beguiling scenery that the race has become known for.

Ushered in for the first time via a Bulgarian grande partenza, the 'firsts' began straight away, and only continued as the race made its way up the boot of Italy, pinballing from coast to coast before taking riders over the mountains in the north.

In Rome, after the dust had settled on the final stage, there was one brand new champion and at least one new star. And then there were the hopefuls for whom the race had not worked out as it might have – including one who joked that he'd be burning his race numbers and jerseys in an attempt to erase it from memory.

For a multitude of teams it was also a race to forget – or at least move on from: only nine came away with stage wins.

Let's take a look at the hits and misses of the Giro d'italia 2026.

THE HITS

Jonas Vingegaard (overall winner)

Few fans were in any doubt of Jonas Vingegaard's credentials as one of the best bike racers in the world, and he certainly didn't need the Giro d'Italia to validate that. But that status has, for around two-and-a-half seasons now, come with a Tadej-Pogačar-shaped caveat: the Slovenian, goes the narrative, is another level up from the diminutive Dane.

With his Giro d'Italia victory though, not to mention an already-impressive start to 2026, Visma-Lease a Bike's Vingegaard is starting to edit that story in his favour. He won the Vuelta a España last August, but the Giro d'Italia is more prestigious and the win has the added and well publicised bonus of making Vingegaard only the eighth male rider to have won all three Grand Tours. Before Pogačar too, who has yet to win the Vuelta.

Vingegaard's Italian expedition appeared lukewarm to begin with. The absolute favourite, he began taking solo victories in the mountains as soon as they began, on stage seven to Blockhaus. But he wasn't quite as far ahead of his closest rival (Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM, who finished second in Rome), as onlookers might have expected.

But Vingegaard's condition seemed to hone itself to a sharper edge as the race continued, while his rivals found theirs became blunted or fell away entirely (he was only 13 seconds ahead of Gall at Blockhaus, but a full 1:15 ahead on his final summit win on stage 20 to Piancavallo).

At the final count in Rome, the Dane had won five stages (all summit finishes) and the overall by a healthy 5:22.

Post-stage in the Italian capital Vingegaard said the win had left him "lost for words", so team boss Richard Plugge took up the baton, sending an ominous message to Pogačar et al: "… Jonas is getting even stronger after this," the Dutchman said. "We planned it so that he’ll be at his peak at the Tour de France. We are looking forward to that fight.”

Paul Magnier (points jersey winner)

In a race with so few obvious sprinting opportunities, it was perhaps a surprise to find such an intriguing narrative to emerge from the fast-finishing stages.

France's Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), still just 22, is hardly an unknown, but he hasn't been considered on quite the same level as Grand Tour success stories like Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay and Jonathan Milan. Until now, that is, because now Magnier has his own Grand Tour success story to tell.

Going into this Giro d'Italia, all eyes were on home rider Milan (Lidl-Trek), a previous winner of the ciclamino points jersey on two previous occasions.

However, he found many of his sprinting intentions thwarted by the upstart Magnier, who won not only the first stage but also pulled on the first maglia rosa of the race.

He became the sprinting sensation of the race, winning a further two stages and wearing the points jersey nearly every day. An unfamiliar 11th place in Rome after he found himself boxed in – with Milan finally getting his stage – won't take the sheen off a Giro that has well and truly announced Magnier to the world.

Afonso Eulálio (best young rider)

Every Grand Tour has the potential to make a star of a hitherto little known rider. Recent editions of the Giro d'Italia have selected Derek Gee, João Almeida and Ben Healy – this year it was the Bahrain Victorious rider Afonso Eulálio.

The story was a familiar one: rider finds himself in the race leader's jersey; rider thrives in the spotlight and finds abilities he didn't realise he had in the struggle to hang on to the jersey, and in doing so wins fans over.

Eulálio, 24, might have previously flitted across the consciousness of British fans thanks to his sixth overall at last year's Tour of Britain. But for most, their first encounter with the Portuguese rider would have been his memorable second place behind Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on stage five in the Giro – a day that was marked by crashes and wrong turns of almost farcical proportions.

The maglia rosa was the consolation prize, but one that few expected him to wear beyond the Blockhaus stage two days later.

However, Eulálio held on to it that day. And the next, and the next. In fact, he ultimately grimaced and ground his way through a further eight stages resplendent in pink. But once Vingegaard had inevitably lifted it from his shoulders, there was no dramatic capitulation. Instead Eulálio kept riding with the front runners like he had always belonged there, only ceding time in dribs and drabs, and even attacking spontaneously when he sensed there was an advantage to be had.

By the time the race reached Rome, Eulálio was still sixth overall and had won the young rider's jersey – and fans' hearts.

...AND THE MISSES

Giulio Pellizzari (21st overall)

A week before the Giro d'Italia began in Bulgaria (remember that?) Giulio Pellizzari won the Tour of the Alps, at a canter, with aplomb. The young Italian hotshot was ready, his Red Bell-Bora-hansgrohe team said at the time, to challenge for the podium at the Giro d'Italia.

However, it became clear early on that Pellizzari was no longer on sparkling form. What was happening, we wondered. Were his Alpine exertions exactly a toll? The answer, it transpired, was that he'd been struck by a bug – one ended up plaguing him for much of the race.

He slipped slowly out of GC contention and finished, ultimately, in 21st place. His participation was hardly a wasted one though – as well as gaining great experience in what it is like to keep fighting when the cause is lost, he turned in some valuable domestique duty in the final mountain days.

All the same, speaking afterwards, he said he was glad the "ordeal" was over. "I don’t want to keep a single memory of this Giro. I’m going to burn all the race numbers and all the jerseys," he joked. "After that, we’ll think about the next race.”

Egan Bernal (10th overall)

Another rider who had shown promise during the Tour of the Alps in late April, the former Tour de France winner was to form part of a two-pronged GC approach at the Giro d'Italia, alongside Netcompany-Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman.

At the Tour of the Alps, there was even talk of Bernal finally refinding his Tour-winning form from seven years ago, after a long road back from a training crash in early 2022. Perhaps he has, but if that is the case, it would appear cycling has moved on: a promising start at the Giro d'Italia gave way to a gradual time bleed that saw him drop into the mid-teens on GC.

Late in the race the Colombian looked to have discovered a second wind, and his distinctive blue, yellow and red national champion's jersey could often be seen marshalling Arensman in and around the favourites' group on various mountain stages.

He managed creditable seventh and sixth place finishes on stage 16 and 20 respectively, boosting him to a final 10th on GC in Rome.

As misses go, it was far less wide of the mark than it could have been, but Bernal's lack of mid-race form cost him dear.

Every July, the Tour de France acts as a sporting eclipse, soaking up the world's broadcasting hours and media attention. But while the men's race stole the global limelight, a parallel history was being written in Italy.

From 1988, the Giro Donne navigated the Tour's massive shadow to serve as the defining battleground of the women's calendar. For decades, it was the only true Grand Tour for the women's peloton – a race of rich heritage and gruelling climbs that is finally stepping into the sun.

As if fighting for exposure with the biggest annual sporting event on the planet was not enough, in 2022 the Giro Donne – rebranded as the Giro d'Italia Women in 2024 – acquired a new rival. The arrival of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, positioned just three weeks later on the calendar, meant the Italian Grand Tour now had to fight for participants as well as media coverage.

It was high time, then, for the Giro d'Italia Women – for many years the only race on the women's calendar that could be considered a genuine Grand Tour – to step out of the shadow.

GIving the women's Giro Room to breathe

That's precisely what has happened this year: the Giro Women has been moved on the calendar from early July to instead begin as the men's version ends, on Sunday 30 May – the day of a mountainous penultimate stage. The refreshed women's race continues for nine stages until the following Sunday, 7 June.

The new slot falls three weeks after the year's first women's Grand Tour, the Vuelta Femenina, and nearly two months before the Tour Femmes, giving all three events room to breathe.

The brief initial overlap with the men's race is deliberate, says race director Giusy Virelli. By the time the women's opening stage finishes, the men will have already wrapped up their 20th stage to Piancavallo – finishing early to allow them time to fly to Rome for their finale. With the men's race out of the way, the Giro Women has all the space it needs to satisfy what Virelli calls “a craving” among fans for the cycling action in Italy to continue.

“For the following stages, we have, for sure, more space, and I think that we can also satisfy the craving by the fans after the Giro d'Italia,” says Virelli. “In the last days [of the Giro] on social media, you always see some images and posts by the fans, because they say they don't have anything to watch the day after. So now they do.”

In its previous July slot, despite the crossover with the men's Tour de France and proximity to the women's, there were upsides for the Giro d'Italia Women, as race director Giusy Virelli points out: “Overlapping with the men's Tour was a pull for the race for the TV audience,” she says.

“But in the end, it affected a lot of the space that we had on the TV schedule. For example, in Italy, we only had 45 minutes on our national TV. After consideration, we thought that moving the Giro Women to a slot just after the men's, with a partial overlap, was better for the events.”

Making space for TV coverage was not the only consideration for Virelli and her fellow Giro organisers. The new kid on the block – the Tour Femmes – had created a bottleneck that often saw riders choosing between the two.

Last year, for example, the Giro Women finished on 13 July and the Tour Femmes began less than two weeks later, on 26 July. Given the newer race had the history and the pedigree of the Tour de France behind it, it's easy to guess which race usually lost out when riders were forced to pick just one.

However, Virelli is not fazed by the rapid rise of the Tour Femmes against the Giro Women's near-40-year history. She concedes that the Tour name will always attract attention, but clearly believes in her race.

“The Tour de France is the biggest stage race in cycling for men,” she says, “so it's also normal that women aim to be at the start of the Tour de France. [But] I don't think that our race, the routes, the technical aspects of our organisation are less than the Tour... For the riders it is [also] very beautiful to come to Italy to ride – there's also a lot of attraction and passion [for cycling] in the country.”

Alluding to the history of her race – Virelli has been at the helm of the RCS Sport-organised event since 2024 – she calls the Giro Women “a long story”. All the same, she pays homage to the Tour Femmes, saying: “Of course our cousins at [Tour Femmes organiser] ASO are doing a great job. So obviously, you always look at what other organisers – not only ASO – are doing, to find some ideas, some new input.”

Race scheduling stack-up

The Giro Women is not the only stage race to be rehomed on the cycling calendar this year: the Tour Femmes will now begin the weekend after the men's race finishes, with director Marion Rousse declaring: “We no longer need the men's race [for us] to exist.” Meanwhile, the Tour of Britain Women moves from May to August.

This creates a near two-month gap between the two Grand Tours, and while it makes the month of July less densely packed, the women's cycling calendar has come in for criticism for what is now a major May/June pinch point. In little over a month, there are 25 WorldTour racing days.

Then again, as The Cyclists' Alliance point out: “In the second half of the 2026 season, from July to October, there are only 22 race days – 31% of the total – and only 13 possible race days for riders not selected for the Tour de France Femmes.” This led Grace Brown, the president of the riders' union the TCA, to claim that “the sport remains built on fragile foundations”.

The space between the women's Grand Tours – three of the biggest races on the calendar – remains key for teams. UAE Team ADQ directeur sportif Cherie Pridham told us: “I think it's better than it was last year, because we had no time to prepare between the Giro and the Tour, so there's a lot more time for preparation.

It enables you to allow the girls to train and focus properly, particularly if you've got injuries and illnesses.” Even so, she noted the congestion in May and the issues the Giro's move had created:

“The big problem is when we have the Vuelta [Femenina], Itzulia [Women] and [Vuelta a] Burgos, this hurts a lot when you have a team that's going away to prepare for the Giro at altitude, and it does reduce the number of riders if you are hit by illness or injury.”

Which women's Grand Tour is seen as top dog is largely due to the hierarchy inherited from the men, Pridham says, with the Tour first, then the Giro and then the Vuelta. However, when it comes to team focus, those distinctions are evening out.

“I think the Giro is rapidly gaining parity with the Tour,” she says. “From a team's perspective, it allows you to spread your load in terms of your objectives.”

Which race holds the notional Grand Tour crown is not something that will concern the riders once the race is under way on 30 June. Some of the best in the world are taking part – including GC favourites Demi Vollering and Elisa Longo Borghini – and there will be no quarter asked or given in the quest for the pink jersey. And this time, for the first time in many years, it will be in its own space and clear of the shadow of the men's Tour.

For a rider who is one of the best climbers in the world, a Vuelta a España winner, and a member of one of the most dominant teams in cycling, Sepp Kuss remains an incredibly likeable man.

The 31-year-old, who has spent most of his career in service to starrier teammates like Primož Roglič or Jonas Vingegaard, always manages to seem relatable, despite being so good at riding a bike.

Therefore, it was heartening to watch the Visma-Lease a Bike rider climb to glory on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia on Friday, as he completed the set of Grand Tour stage victories. His first Vuelta win came seven years ago, his triumph at the Tour de France two seasons later, so his victory was testimony to determination, grit, and plugging away.

He attacked and caught another crowd favourite, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) on the final climb in the Dolomites, but that didn't diminish his likeable win. When he's at his best, let off the leash, there's barely anyone in the world that makes riding up a mountain look as effortless as Kuss, it's where he's at home.

As ever, as a selfless domestique de luxe, Kuss was adamant post-stage that he didn't come into the Giro to win a stage, but to help his teammate, Vingegaard, to the overall crown. That all but achieved, however, he was given the chance.

"To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas," Kuss explained on TV. "So far it’s looking good, but when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity."

Five years on from completing two thirds of the trilogy, it took a lot of effort to get to this point, he said: "It’s something I've always dreamt of, but every year it gets harder and harder. I keep progressing and getting better but so does everyone else. Every year that goes by I think it’s going to get harder to win a stage of the Giro, to complete all three, but yeah, I just can’t believe it."

He can believe it now, but it was not an easy ride to the finish, despite that serene climbing style, which got a bit ragged by the end. Asked what the final kilometre was like, when he was surely ahead, he said: "Lots of suffering, because I knew I had to push it all the way to the line, and I went pretty deep in the middle."

What made it all the more special was that the man from Durango, Colorado, was joined in Italy for his moment of triumph by his mother. All top cyclists live like monks, but those from other continents racing in Europe have to live more than a few hours from home, too, and an emotional Kuss made clear that this life is not easy.

"I knew my mother was going to be standing 500m from the finish, and a big shout out to her and my family," he said, holding back tears. "I only see them a few weeks of the year, and it’s hard to stay in contact with everyone that’s far away. It’s really nice to see her there, and I’m always thinking of my family and my friends that I don’t get to see so much, so this one’s for them."

Grand Tour trilogy complete, interview done, Kuss was free to embrace his mother, in the knowledge that all that work was worthwhile. It was a moment to realise pro cyclists are human too, just incredibly powerful ones; the scene just added to his charm, too. Congratulations, Sepp.

The change in date for the women's Giro has resulted in a strong field lining up for the nine days of racing. Starting eight weeks before the women's Tour means there is now plenty of time to recover from one and mount a challenge in the second, as Demi Vollering plans to do this year.

While the Dutchwoman starts as favourite she'll be up agains compatriot and former coach Anna van der Breggen and reigning champion Elisa Longo Borghini.

On the flat stages it's hard to see past Lorena Wiebes while young Brit Cat Ferguson will hope to contest the punchier stages that aren't hard enough to bring out the GC contenders.

Read More: Giro d'Italia Women 2026 | Giro d'Italia Women 2026 start list

Demi Vollering
29 | FDJ United-SUEZ | Ned
Previous Giro starts: 2
Best GC result: 3rd (2021)
Best stage result: 2nd (x3, 2021)

Demi Vollering has made no secret of the intense focus she has placed on the Italian Grand Tour this year – as well as the Tour de France Femmes in August – with the revised calendar being a key driver.

“Of course, the new place in the calendar influenced my decision,” Vollering said on the Giro Women website. “It works much better alongside the Tour, so it’s possible to aim for strong performances in both races.

"Coming back to the Giro felt like a natural choice," she added. "It’s a race with a great history and I’m happy to have it back in my programme.”

The Dutch rider has enjoyed a superb start to the season this year – perhaps her best ever. With victories in four Classics, including two Monuments (Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège) as well as stages and the GC at Setmana Volta Valenciana back in February, she has won more times than not in her 10 race days so far.

Both of her Monument victories were solo efforts, with a particularly impressive performance at Liège-Bastogne-Liège that saw her attack with 34km to go and hold off the combined efforts of Puck Pieterse, Kasia Niewiadoma and Anna van der Breggen to win by a minute and-a-half.

The 29-year-old is an all-rounder in the mould of now-retired Annemiek van Vleuten: a powerful engine complemented by a world-beating climbing ability. It makes her an indomitable force in races like the Giro d'Italia.

Unsurprisingly, Vollering opted to miss the very recent Vuelta Femenina and her most recent Strava activities suggest she is preparing for the race with a mountains training camp in Spain's Sierra Nevada.

She has won the Vuelta twice and the Tour Femmes once already, and will be mimicking Jonas Vingegaard in his attempt to add the Giro to his palmarès, thus securing career wins in all three Grand Tours. Unlike Vingegaard, Vollering has ridden the Italian race before, finishing third back in 2021. She will hope to better that result this year – anything but a win, in fact, will be a disappointment.

Marlen Reusser
34 | Movistar | Swi
Previous Giro starts: 3
Best GC result: 2nd (2025)
Best stage result: 1st (2025)

This is set to be the first race for the Swiss rider since she crashed hard at the Tour of Flanders, fracturing a vertebra in her lower back. That was six weeks ago, and though there has been little word from her since, she has been pictured on her own Instagram account riding a new – and heavily disguised – Canyon time trial bike.

Her Flanders crash was the latest set-back in an early season she would probably rather forget. She was also forced to abandon the UAE Tour in early February after suffering hand and knee lacerations in a crash.

Second here last year and twice GC runner-up at the Vuelta Femenina, Reusser would usually be one of the top favourites for a race like the Giro Women. But her recent injury may well see her relegated her to wildcard status at most.

Elisa Longo Borghini
34 | UAE Team ADQ | Italy
Previous Giro starts: 7
Best GC result: 1st (2024, 2025)
Best stage result: 3x1st (2020, 2023, 2024)

The home favourite and defending champion will go into this year’s race looking for a third Giro win on the bounce, and you’d be brave to bet against her. After winning the UAE Tour (again) in February, the 34-year-old Italian champion has had an illness-impacted 2026, missing Milan-San Remo altogether, finishing well down the field at Dwars Door Vlaanderen (which she won in 2025) and placing a disappointing eighth at the Tour of Flanders.

Now back in rude health, the super experienced rider and double-Olympic medal winner, who is capable of attacking and defending in equal measure, will push race-favourite Demi Vollering all the way. Borghini wore the Maglia Rosa for the entire race in 2024, and last year became only the second female Italian rider (after legendary five-time winner Fabiana Luperini) to win the Giro more than once – she knows this grand tour inside out, and a third consecutive victory is very possible.

Marion Bunel
21 | Visma-Lease a Bike | France
Previous Giro starts: 0
Best GC result: n/a
Best stage result: n/a

After coming second overall in last month’s Vuelta Femenina, Marion Bunel has confirmed herself as a rider to watch. The young French climber stood alongside Paula Blasi and Anna van der Breggen on the fearsome Angliru having finished the Spanish race as the best young rider; and should be considered a serious threat going into the Giro Donne.

La Vuelta followed Bunel’s now-established form. In the Tour of Catalonia, the 21-year-old finished just 30 seconds behind overall GC champion, Demi Vollering, on the Queen Stage after winning the Tour de l’Avenir a year before in a smattering of mountain breakaways.

A dominant climber, Bunel only graduated from the Continental ranks at the start of 2025, and has also proved herself a rider capable of attacking across multiple days of riding. One of the wave of young riders touted to shake up the established order, Bunel will line up at the Giro fresh from a string of podium finishes.

Lorena Wiebes
27 | SD Worx-Protime | Ned
Previous Giro starts: 3
Best GC result: 48th (2021)
Best stage result: 1st (x5, 2021,23,25)

It won't be lost on her rivals that Lorena Wiebes has morphed from a very strong fast finisher to a very strong fast finishing rouleur. As such she goes into the Giro d'Italia Women not just as favourite for the three flat stages (one, two and six), but also as a real danger for one or two of the hillier stages.

She has been a world-beater for some time now, as her Giro d'Italia results above illustrate. She has won stages in each of her three participations, and it would be a surprise to walk away empty-handed this time round. Whether she will reprise her points classification win from last year remains to be seen.

So far this season she has won 50% of her 16 race days, as well as registering some high placings in the Classics. She has never worn the maglia rosa before, but with a flat stage to start off, this could well be her year.

Anna van der Breggen
36 | SD Worx-Protime | Ned
Previous Giro starts: 13
Best GC result: 1st (x4 2015, 17, 20, 21)
Best stage result: 1st (x2, 2019, 21)

Anna van der Breggen has done something her former protégé Demi Vollering has never managed to do – win the Giro d’Italia. Not just once, however, but four times, putting her joint-second overall with her great rival Annemiek van Vleuten for GC crowns. The last time was in 2021, though, before her three year ‘retirement’ which then got reversed.

The Dutchwoman was second at the recent Vuelta España Femenina, proving that she is in good form, but also beatable on the toughest mountain stages. Has the potential to be Vollering’s biggest threat, but will also be part of an SD Worx team with a split strategy, given the presence of Lorena Wiebes. Van der Breggen was sixth at last year’s Giro, and will hope to be higher up the top 10 this season, perhaps even on the podium. As a multiple time trial world champion, stage four’s individual TT could be the day her overall challenge is built on.

Cat Ferguson
20 | Movistar | GBr
Previous Giro starts: 0
Best GC result: n/a
Best stage result: n/a

The British phenomenon makes her debut at the Giro, on a stage-hunting brief. Ferguson has only raced one Grand Tour to date, last year’s Vuelta, so everything is still pretty new, but the 20-year-old has risen to every challenge thrown at her to date.

Speaking to Cycling Weekly earlier this year, Ferguson said: “My personal goal is to look for stages. The Giro is hard, but then there are a lot of opportunities for the sprints. I’ll be trying to do my best in the sprint stages.” According to her, the Vuelta last year was a “baptism of fire”: “It’s 10 days of carb loading, and it’s very different to a junior stage race.

If you don’t manage to get that pasta down you at dinner, then the next day you really feel it.” If she can manage the chaos of nine stages, there are sprint and punchy opportunities through the nine days.

Elisa Balsamo
28, Lidl-Trek, Ita
Previous Giro starts: 2
Best GC result: 49th (2022)
Best stage result: 1st (x2 2022)

Perhaps surprisingly for one of the best Italian riders of her generation, Elisa Balsamo has only ridden her home Grand Tour twice, but hasn’t missed an edition of the Tour de France Femmes.

Perhaps that points to priorities, but the new slow for the Giro in the schedule allows for the Piedmontese rider to tackle roads familiar to her. Like the rest of her Lidl-Trek team, Balsamo has struggled for wins in 2026, but one is surely on the horizon, with a string of solid results.

Two second places, including at the Ronde van Brugge, and third place at Scheldeprijs shows that the sprinter is ready. Her problem, however, is that there is a woman faster than everyone in the peloton, and she’s riding the Giro: Lorena Wiebes. No-one is unbeatable, though, and on the punchier days, it is plausible that Balsamo might have the edge, this is a rider who has won the Trofeo Alfredo Binda thrice, after all.

Elisa Longo Borghini returns to Italy looking to win her third consecutive Giro title, but will face the best field since last year's Tour de France Femme. World number one Demi Vollering (FDJ United Suez) will be on the start line in Cesenatico on the west coast of the country, and has gone public with her aim of winning the Giro Tour double in 2026.

SD Worx Protime will line up behind four-time winner Anna van der Breggen for the Giro Women. The Dutch rider first won in 2015, and from 2017 onwards swapped wins with compatriot, although never a team mate, Annemiek van Vleuten.

Visma Lease a bike is lead by young French rider. The 21-year-old climber finished third at the Vuelta earlier in May and gets teh chance to lead in the absence of Pauline Ferrand Prevot who will head to the Tour de France Femmes to defend her title.

21 teams of seven riders start the race to make a peloton of 147 riders contesting the race.

Read more: Giro d'Italia Women 2026 | Giro d'Italia Women contenders

Giro d'Italia Women 2026 full start list

AG Insurance-Soudal
1 Mireia Benito (Esp)
2 Lore De Schepper (Bel)
3 Justine Ghekiere (Bel)
4 Ilse Pluimers (Ned)
5 Julie Van De Velde (Bel)
6 Gladys Verhulst-Wild (Fra)
7 Urška Žigart (Slo)

Aromitalia Vaiano
11 Irene Affolati (Ita)
12 Fanny Bonini (Ita)
13 Maya Kingma (Ned)
14 Eleonora La Bella (Ita)
15 Argiro Milaki (Gre)
16 Valentina Venerucci (Smr)
17 Petra Zsankó (Hun)

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto
21 Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den)
22 Chiara Consonni (Ita)
23 Justyna Czapla (Ger)
24 Anastasiya Kolesava (Blr)
25 Antonia Niedermaier (Ger)
26 Soraya Paladin (Ita)
27 Maike Van Der Duin (Ned)

EF Education-Oatly
31 Magdeleine Vallieres (Can)
32 Nina Berton (Lux)
33 Kristen Faulkner (USA)
34 Stina Kagevi (Swe)
35 Mirre Knaven (Ned)
36 Alexis Magner (USA)
37 Alexandra Volstad (Can)

FDJ United-SUEZ
41 Demi Vollering (Ned)
42 Elise Chabbey (Sui)
43 Lauren Dickson (Gbr)
44 Vittoria Guazzini (Ita)
45 Amber Kraak (Ned)
46 Eva Van Agt (Ned)
47 Ally Wollaston (Nzl)

Fenix-Premier Tech
51 Millie Couzens (Gbr)
52 Mylène De Zoete (Ned)
53 Charlotte Kool (Ned)
54 Evy Kuijpers (Ned)
55 Flora Perkins (Gbr)
56 Christina Schweinberger (Aut)
57 Marthe Truyen (Bel)

Human Powered Health
61 Barbara Malcotti (Ita)
62 Nina Buijsman (Ned)
63 Maggie Coles-Lyster (Can)
64 Thalita De Jong (Ned)
65 Carlotta Cipressi (Ita)
66 Marit Raaijmakers (Ned)
67 Lily Williams (USA)

Isolmant-Premac-Vittoria
71 Anita Baima (Ita)
72 Giulia Bisso (Ita)
73 Lara Crestanello (Ita)
74 Valeria Curnis (Ita)
75 Chantal Pegolo (Ita)
76 Martina Silvestri (Ita)
77 Valentina Zanzi (Ita)

Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi
81 Naia Amondarain (Esp)
82 Alice Maria Arzuffi (Ita)
83 Yuliia Biriukova (Ukr)
84 Sara Fiorin (Ita)
85 Tiril Jørgensen (Nor)
86 Cristina Tonetti (Ita)
87 Marjolein Van 't Geloof (Ned)

Lidl-Trek
91 Niamh Fisher-Black (Nzl)
92 Elisa Balsamo (Ita)
93 Shirin Van Anrooij (Ned)
94 Lucinda Brand (Ned)
95 Isabella Holmgren (Can)
96 Fleur Moors (Bel)
97 Amanda Spratt (Aus)

Liv-AlUla-Jayco
101 Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita)
102 Caroline Andersson (Swe)
103 Georgia Baker (Aus)
104 Nadia Gontova (Can)
105 Silke Smulders (Ned)
106 Quinty Ton (Ned)
107 Matilde Vitillo (Ita)

Movistar
111 Marlen Reusser (Sui)
112 Francesca Barale (Ita)
113 Aude Biannic (Fra)
114 Cat Ferguson (Gbr)
115 Ana Vitória Magalhães (Bra)
116 Mareille Meijer (Ned)
117 Arlenis Sierra (Cub)

St Michel-Preference-Auber93
121 Clara Emond (Can)
122 Alicia González (Esp)
123 Émilie Morier (Fra)
124 Alison Jackson (Can)
125 Karolina Kumięga (Pol)
126 Solène Muller (Fra)
127 Caroline Wreszin (Fra)

Mendelspeck E-Work
131 Camilla Bezzone (Ita)
132 Eleonora Deotto (Ita)
133 Giulia Giuliani (Ita)
134 Ilaria Marinetto (Ita)
135 Katelyn Nicholson (Can)
136 Sara Segala (Ita)
137 Giorgia Serena (Ita)

Picnic PostNL
141 Rachele Barbieri (Ita)
142 Robyn Clay (Gbr)
143 Josie Nelson (Gbr)
144 Pfeiffer Georgi (Gbr)
145 Mara Roldan (Col)
146 Becky Storrie (Gbr)
147 Gaia Masetti (Ita)

SD Worx-Protime
151 Anna Van Der Breggen (Ned)
152 Elena Cecchini (Ita)
153 Femke Gerritse (Ned)
154 Barbara Guarischi (Ita)
155 Valentina Cavallar (Aut)
156 Mikayla Harvey (Nzl)
157 Lorena Wiebes (Ned)

Visma-Lease a Bike
161 Marion Bunel (Fra)
162 Viktória Chladoňová (Svk)
163 Femke De Vries (Ned)
164 Daniek Hengeveld (Ned)
165 Rosita Reijnhout (Ned)
166 Nienke Veenhoven (Ned)
167 Margaux Vigie (Fra)

Top Girls Fassa Bortolo
171 Virginia Bortoli (Ita)
172 Monica Castagna (Ita)
173 Elisa De Vallier (Ita)
174 Sara Luccon (Ita)
175 Marta Pavesi (Ita)
176 Chiara Reghini (Ita)
177 Sharon Spimi (Ita)

UAE Team ADQ
181 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita)
182 Alena Amialiusik (Blr)
183 Mavi García (Esp)
184 Eleonora Camilla Gasparrini (Ita)
185 Lara Gillespie (Irl)
186 Erica Magnaldi (Ita)
187 Silvia Persico (Ita)

Uno-X Mobility
191 Susanne Andersen (Nor)
192 Teuntje Beekhuis (Ned)
193 Marte Berg Edseth (Nor)
194 Sigrid Ytterhus Haugset (Nor)
195 Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Nor)
196 Alessia Vigilia (Ita)
197 Linda Zanetti (Sui)

Vini Fantini-BePink
201 Gaia Segato (Ita)
202 Andrea Casagranda (Ita)
203 Marina Garau (Ita)
204 Vittoria Grassi (Ita)
205 Nora Jenčušová (Svk)
206 Silvia Milesi (Ita)
207 Elisa Valtulini (Ita)

Sepp Kuss conquered the Dolomites on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia to take a debut stage win at the Italian Grand Tour after a dramatic Friday.

The American outlasted the rest of his breakaway companion to triumph atop the Piani di Pezzè as his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Jonas Vingegaard all but sealed overall victory at the Giro.

Behind, Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) was second, gaining time on his other general classification rivals, as Giulio Ciccone, also of Lidl-Trek, finished third. It looked like a time that Ciccone would take the stage win, after he launched a move over the penultimate climb of the Passo Falzarego, having already taking the maximum mountains points over the top of the Passo Giau. Ciccone therefore won the Cima Coppi, the prize for conquering the highest point of the Giro.

However, Kuss rode hard in the valley and caught his Italian rival on the climb to be along in the last kilometre.

"Not especially," Kuss said when asked whether he thought he would catch Ciccone. "I knew he would accelerate over the top for the mountain points, and it looked like he was already slowing up, but then he looked and there was a gap, and by the bottom of the climb he had a minute, and I thought it was over.

"To be honest, I was a bit demotivated because I thought it was over, but I just tried to focus on doing the fastest time possible, on a steep climb. A nice one for me."

"To be honest, it was never the primary goal, the main challenge was to win the pink jersey with Jonas," he said. "So far it’s looking good, but when they told me the other night that I had the chance to go in the break I knew I had to seize the opportunity."

Vingegaard finished alongside Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), to also gain on GC. Hindley replaced Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) on the podium, while Gee replaced former pink jersey Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) in the top five.

On the final climb, Gall attacked but was matched on every pedal stroke by Vingegaard, who has a four-minute advantage on him, while Hindley followed, all moving away from Arensman, who lost just over a minute to the trio.

After stage wins at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, as well as the overall at the latter, Kuss added a Giro stage to his palmarès to complete the set.

His victory also meant that a rider in the yellow of Visma-Lease a Bike (four for Vingegaard, now one for Kuss) has won every mountain-top finish of this year's Giro, in a clear representation of the team's dominance at this year's Giro.

Kuss joined the day's large breakaway with around 100km to go on the first climb of the day, on the Passo Duran, which was around 26 riders. The race was shaken up on the next climb, the Passo Giau (9.8km at 9.3%), as GC contender Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) attacked, followed by Gee-West, which meant there was action with well over 50km left to go of the stage.

Gee-West was the main beneficiary of this, as he moved up on GC, and was close to stage winner Kuss. Ciccone gained mountains points too, as a result of his exploits, and moved into the lead of the blue jersey competiton.

"It was super hard, I was just going to stay with the GC guys and then Tudor pulled a good move with Michael jumping and then a bunch of their guys dropping back and pulling him across to the break," Gee-West said. "To be honest, I thought we had the stage when Giulio went on the descent and there was a bit of disorder behind. Hats off to Sepp, he pulled in the valley, I was sitting in the wheels, and he still rode away from me."

Saturday sees the last mountain day at this year's Giro, a final chance for the GC to be shaken up.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 19: Feltre > Alleghe (Piani di Pezzè) (151km)

1. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike), in 4:28:33
2. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, 13s
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek), +36s
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +39s
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +43s
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:06
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:11
9. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +1:19
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, at same time

General Classification after stage 19

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 75:13:16
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:04
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:33
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +6:31
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +7:26
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:50
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +8:29
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +9:01
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +11:19

Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia will be the penultimate stage in which the Maglia Rosa is truly up for grabs. Jonas Vingegaard currently holds a four-minute, three-second advantage over Felix Gall, but as we know, anything can happen on the Queen Stage.

The 19th stage of the 2026 Giro d'Italia gets underway at 11:30am UK time (BST) with the finish expected around 15:54 BST.

Stage 19 takes us on a 151km route from Feltre to Alleghe, featuring a brutal 5,000m of elevation gain. The riders will tackle six categorised climbs across the stage, with the opening five taking them over Passo Duran, Coi, Forcella Staulanza, Passo Giau, and Passo Falzarego. A long descent into Alleghe follows before the final challenge: a short but punishing ascent to Pian di Pezzè, where gradients ramp up to a savage 15%.

This is the stage where the General Classification will almost certainly be decided, and if we haven’t already seen enough from Vingegaard, this could well be another masterclass from the Dane. He has looked imperious throughout the race and, with four stage victories already to his name, he will be targeting a fifth on the most decisive day of the Tour.

Beyond the battle for yellow, the remaining podium places are still very much up for grabs, with Felix Gall desperate to secure the first Grand Tour podium finish of his career.

Can I watch stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia for free?

You can stream Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia for free in Australia, Italy and Switzerland:

• 🇦🇺 Australia: SBS (English comms)
• 🇮🇹 Italy: RAI Play (home broadcaster)
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland: RSI (Italian comms) and SRF (German comms)

Those outside their usual country for stage 19 will need a VPN to get your usual coverage while abroad – more on that below.

How to watch the Giro d'Italia stage 19 from anywhere

Most streaming platforms have geo-restrictions these days, which means they only work in certain countries. But being locked out of the races is a thing of the past thanks to a VPN.

A Virtual Private Network is a piece of internet security software that can alter your device's location, so you can unblock your usual streaming services, even when you're abroad.

Want to know more? We have an explainer on the benefits, costs, and considerations of using a VPN...
– Should I use a VPN to watch cycling?

Watch stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia in the UK

In the UK, stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia is being broadcast live on TNT Sports and HBO Max. Coverage begins at 11:30 and runs through until 17:00.

Live streaming is available on HBO Max, with linear viewing on TNT Sports. Plans start at £25.99 per month, with rolling subscriptions available at £30.99.

Watch stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia in the US and Canada

For North American viewers, stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia is divided across HBO Max and FloBikes.

HBO Max ($18.49/mon) will broadcast the Queen stage in the US while FloBikes ($49.99/mon) will be your go-to in Canada.

Watch the Giro d'Italia stage 19 in Australia

As alluded to in our free section, SBS, the country's public service broadcaster will show stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia.

Streaming is available at SBS On Demand, with linear viewing available on SBS Viceland.

Giro d'Italia stage 19 timings

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France's Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) sped to a hat-trick victory in the Giro d'Italia on Thursday, winning the bunch sprint on damp roads in Pieve di Soligo on stage 18.

The 22-year-old finally cemented the triple after a 15-day wait since his last victory – taken two weeks and a lifetime ago in Sofia, Bulgaria on stage three. It also saw him reclaim the ciclamino jersey from Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) with a comfortable 37-point lead.

On a tough finish featuring a cat-four climb with 10km to go, it didn't always look as though the sprinters would have their day. But despite a lot of attacking riding, not least from former maglia rosa Alfonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), the race came back together in the final kilometres.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) retained the maglia rosa, 4:03 ahead of Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM).

"I didn't really expect it would happen today, which makes it even more beautiful," an exuberant Magnier said after the stage.

"I can really thank my team for the confidence. I was not confident in myself this morning and I even [got] dropped on the first climb, then I tried to focus again. My teammates were around me and they made it to the sprint - I'm so happy to win here today."

He added: "To be honest I can't even remember the final. I think I'll enjoy the three stage wins, I had the pink jersey already, and the ciclamino jersey for many days. That is something I didn't expect before this Giro and I'm super proud to be there now."

Taking the riders 171km west to east across the far north-east of Italy, today's parcours was hardly pan flat but looked as though it could present an opportunity for the sprinters if the stars aligned. Two classified climbs – a cat-three mid-stage and the cat-four Muro Ca'del Poggio at 10km to go, looked as if they might trip the fast finishers up, which is exactly what nearly happened.

The GC teams initially looked happy to play the game on the Ca'del Poggio, riding at a relaxed pace that suited even the likes of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Magnier. But Eulálio had other ideas despite having crashed earlier in the stage. His hard attack drew the GC hopefuls into a chase that ultimately separated the peloton, and only came back together with 3.5km to go.

On a sinuous finish, Magnier took the initiative after being set up by teammate Jasper Stuyven and got a huge leap ahead through the final bend to take a comfortable win.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 16: Fai della Paganella > Pieve di Soligo, 171km

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, 171km in 3:46:50
2. Eduardo Zambanini (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
3. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Francesco Busatto (Ita) Alpecin-Deceuninck
5. Corbin Strong (Nzl) NSN Cycling
6. Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS-Astana
7. Madis Mikhels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost
8. Filippo Magli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 7 Saber
9. Sakarias Koller Løland (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Lukáš Kubiš (Slo) Unibet Rose Rockets

General Classification after stage 16

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 70:44:04
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:27
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:00
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +5:40
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:09
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:14
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:57
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +8:34
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +9:20

Michael Valgren escaped to victory on stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, as the breakaway lasted the distance on the road to Andalo.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider held up a lucky charm made by his son as he toasted victory ahead of Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious).

The 34-year-old worked in unison with Movistar's Einer Rubio from 20km to go, with the pair leading up the final 8% incline towards the finish. But it was in the final 500m of the race that Valgren sped away from the pursuing bunch, not waiting for a sprint finish to decide the race, as Rubio was caught.

The victory marked the Dane's first Grand Tour stage win. In 2022, he suffered career-threatening injuries – a fractured pelvis, dislocated hip and torn knee ligaments – when he crashed on a descent at the Route d'Occitanie.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) maintained his Giro lead overall.

"It’s a funny thing, people think I’m fast, but I’m actually quite slow," Valgren said after the race. "This morning, [TNT Sports pundit] Adam Blythe asked me about my maximum peak power and it was ridiculously embarrassing to be honest. So yeah, this is my move, and when I have good legs, I’m pretty good at it.

"It was a strange day, it was such a big group and we never worked together. I was getting kind of pissed to be honest, like why don’t we just try to race? Then we for sure raced a lot in the end," Valgren laughed.

A flurry of attacks had opened the stage earlier today, with Caruso dominating the bulk of its second half. With a controlled mountain descent, the Italian veteran led out the break of eight riders that formed at 30km to go, despite roads slick with rain that saw Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) drop out of contention.

Caruso pushed on the final classified climb, Andalo-Lever, with 17km to go, with Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) following on his wheel. Ahead, the lead group looked strong, spearheaded by Rubio and Valgren working in unison, with Caruso 15 seconds behind, hungry for a stage win on his approach to retirement.

On the final 8% climb to the finish, the fight looked to be between Rubio and Valgren. Arrieta then bridged across, followed by Aleskandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), Leknessund and Caruso.

Each rider made jabs to get away, until Valgren made the race-winning move under the flamme rouge, shooting up the road, and leaving the chasing group unable to catch him.

"It was super-hard, I was really on my limit," Valgren said after the race. "I didn’t have any more food for a while, because the cars were really behind us. I was really worried and thought I was going to bonk. I was lucky it wasn’t 500m longer.

“I missed this on my resume," he added. "I think I deserve this, I think my career has been really good, but I needed this stage win."

Giro d'Italia stage 17: Cassano d’Adda > Andalo (202km)

1. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost, 4:41:33
2. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +3s
3. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +6s
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, a.s.t
5. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, a.s.t
6. Igor Arrieta (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +14s
7. Gianmarco Gardoli (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +52s
8. David de la Cruz (Esp) Pinarello Q36.5, +1:08
9. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:44
10. Mark Donavan (Gbr) Pinarello Q36.5, a.s.t

General classification after stage 17

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 66:57:14
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:27
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:00
5. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +5:40
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:09
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:14
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:57
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +8:34
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +9:20

Jonas Vingegaard's victory at the 2026 Giro d’Italia sees him join an exclusive group of riders who have won all three Grand Tours. And the cherry on top of this achievement will be the fact that he has beaten his rival Tadej Pogačar to getting his name on that list. If, in fact, the Slovenian ever will.

Sealing the GC in Rome means the Dane becomes the eighth male rider to have won all three Grand Tours in his career. This after winning the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023 and the Vuelta a España in 2025.

The first rider to land all three titles was Jacques Anquetil, the Frenchman who conquered all through the late 50s and early 60s had to wait until 1963 to win the Vuelta - ten years into his pro career. However, comparisons are made more difficult by the fact the Vuelta was a 15-day race at that time.

By the time Felice Gimondi won the Vuelta in 1968 to become the second rider to win all three, the Spanish tour had increased to 18 stages (two of them split stages). Even by the time Bernard Hinault added himself to the list, the Vuelta was just 19 days long. Two short of a now-standard 21-stage Grand Tour.

Spaniard Alberto Contador was the first to win three, 21-stage Grand Tours after winning the 2008 Giro d’Italia and Vuelta, having previously won the Tour in 2007. The only five-time winner of the Tour de France not to appear on the list is Miguel Indurain. The Spaniard won the Tour five times in a row between 1991 and 1995, and in two of those years, won the Giro when it was still possible to use the Italian Grand Tour in preparation for the Tour.

Much to the frustration of the Spanish fans and organisers, Indurain never mounted a serious challenge for the Vuelta, often cutting his season short after the Tour unless there was a world or Olympic title in his sights.

• All the riders who have won the Giro / Tour double

No rider has ever won all three Grand Tours in the same year, although three of them have held all three titles concurrently, split over two calendar years.

Eddy Merckx won the 1972 Giro and Tour, then won the 1973 Vuelta, which started in late April

Bernard Hinault held all three titles, starting with the Giro and Tour double in 1982, and then taking the springtime Vuelta in 1983

Chris Froome achieved the feat across the 2017 and 2018 seasons, first winning the Tour and Vuelta (by now in it’s late summer spot on the calendar) and the Giro in the spring of 2018. That was to be his final Grand Tour win after teammate Geraint Thomas beat him to the 2018 Tour title before a career-defining crash at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine put an end to Froome’s time as a GC contender.

Demi Vollering became the second female rider to have won all three Grand Tours with her victory in the 2026 Giro d'Italia Women. Taking advantage of the race's new calendar slot of late May, early June, the Dutch woman sealed the overall victory on the final climb of the final stage, gaining the time needed over Anna van der Breggen.

Annemiek van Vleuten reamins the only rider, male or female, to win all three races i one season. The Dutchwoman did the treble in 2022 starting with victory at the Giro Donne in early July, and followed that up by taking the inaugural Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift at the end of the month.

In September she then won the five-stage Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta. There is debate whether or not this was a genuine Grand Tour due to it’s length. The race is now seven stages long. Female riders have had far few opportunities to win the treble, with the Tour de France Femmes only returning in 2022 after a 13-year hiatus and the Vuelta starting as a one-day race in 2015 and gradually growing from there.

Jonas Vingegaard soared to a fourth stage victory at this year's Giro d'Italia on stage 16 of the race, cementing his lead in the pink jersey in the process.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider has triumphed on every mountain-top finish at this year's Giro, and it was no different on Tuesday, as he put decisive time into his rivals. He now leads second-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by just over four minutes, who finished second, ahead of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Vingegaard's team had softened up the peloton on the mountainous day in Switzerland, with former race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) dropping early on the final climb to Carì, before the man in pink launched his move with 6.6km to go. No-one could follow, with Gall briefly trying, before giving up his chase. By the finish, the Dane had put over a minute into his challengers.

With five stages to go, Vingegaard now has a bigger margin over second place than every edition of the Giro in the last 10 years, aside from Tadej Pogačar's triumphant ride in 2024. Eulálio losing time meant the top 10 was mildly reshuffled, with Gall moving to second, Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) now in third place, and Hindley into fourth, while the Portuguese rider is in in fifth.

"My teammates and I were very motivated for it," the stage winner and race leader said. "We wanted to try and win in the pink jersey, and it can also go wrong, so we chose the first option to do it. If we failed, then we’d have another one too.

"I think it was a very nice, very hard climb. It’s a long climb, it took around half an hour I guess. My teammates again did an amazing job, they pulled from the start, and they didn’t give the breakaway any chances today, and on the last climb then they reduced the bunch. Then I had to do the rest, and I’m happy once again that I can pay off my teammates."

Asked if his eyes were now on six stage wins, as Pogačar did in 2024, Vingegaard replied: "No. I take it day by day. Now I have four stages and we will see what we’ll do for the rest of the week."

"They showed again who is in charge again, as a team," Gall said. "He's just doing his thing."

The short day was animated by an early break which included Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Einer Rubio (Movistar), with Ciccone in particular seeming to hunt for mountains points. However, the escape never got enough leeway to challenge for the stage win, with Visma-Lease a Bike in control of the day.

One team did briefly appear on the front on the final climb – Red Bull – but this appeared to only achieve harm to their own aspirations, with Giulio Pellizzari dropping back almost immediately as the team began to pull.

There are two more key general classification days to come at this Giro, in the Dolomites and Julian Alps on stages 19 and 20, and it is very much Vingegaard's race to lose.

Results

Giro d'Italia stage 16: Bellinzona > Carì (113km)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 113km in 2:57:40
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1:09
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:11
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:14
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +1:18
6. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:34
7. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +2:04
8. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:18
9. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +2:55
10. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet Rose Rockets, +3:04

General classification after stage 16

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 62:10:26
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4:03
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:27
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:00
5. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +5:40
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7:09
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +7:14
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:57
9. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +9:20
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +9:44

On Sunday, right at the end of stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia, Bardiani-CSF-7 Saber’s Enrico Zanoncello was disqualified from the race for headbutting a British rider, 24-year-old Bob Donaldson. The act of blatant aggression by the 28-year-old caused the Jayco AlUla rider to crash, leaving him with a ripped skinsuit and road rash.

After reviewing video evidence the jury were quick to act, banning Zanoncello for 'deviation from the chosen line that endangers another rider (blow from the head)’ and imposing a 500CHF fine and loss of 13 points. According to UCI rules, as established at the outset of the 2025 season, riders who receive two yellow cards in a single race are disqualified and suspended from racing for seven days, but the Italian’s actions were warranted serious enough to justify instant ejection.

When bike racers see red

Although relatively rare, it’s far from the first time tempers have flared and fisticuffs have broken out between rival riders during a race. Just two months ago, Kiwi rider Kiaan Watts was disqualified from Salverda Bouw Ster van Zwolle and suspended for five weeks by his team, NSN, after punching Marijn Maas (BEAT CC p/b Saxo) in the head during the race. Impressively, the Dutchman managed to stay upright after the blow, and he strenuously denied having earlier spat at the New Zealander.

In 2024, professional cyclocross rider Eli Iserbyt from Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal was disqualified from an event in Belgium for stomping on a fellow rider’s bike, and the previous year, Belgian rider Maxim Van Gils from Lotto-Dstny was banned from racing for 25 days after belting Greek rider Georgios Bouglas on the back of the head as they crossed the finish line at the Japan Cup Criterium. But go back a little further and you’ll find some bigger examples of race rage during high-profile events.

Luke Rowe vs Tony Martin – Tour de France 2019

One of the more famous, if rather anticlimactic altercations, was between Ineos captain Luke Rowe and Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) during stage 17 of the 2019 Tour de France. Both riders were kicked off the tour after Martin swerved in front of Rowe, almost causing the Welshman to crash, and then Rowe responded by seizing hold of the German. The rivals later exchanged words and rolled across the line virtually together, before shaking hands, but they were both expelled regardless.

Gianni Moscon vs Elie Gesbert – Tour de France 2018

A more fiery incident flared During the 2018 Tour de France, when Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon was seen punching French rider Elie Gesbert (Fortuneo-Samsic) close to the beginning of stage 15. The Italian later apologised, saying 'I reacted in the heat of the moment', but he was disqualified from the Tour and given a five-week suspension from racing. Moscon had recently been accused (but subsequently cleared, due to a lack of evidence) of pushing and causing Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) to crash in the 2017 Tre Valli Varesine, an incident that resulted in the Swiss rider breaking his elbow and fracturing his hip.

Andriy Grivko vs Marcel Kittel – Dubai Tour 2017

One of the more violent incidents in modern pro cycling happened during a 200-kilometre desert stage of the 2017 Dubai Tour, when Quick-Step rider Marcel Kittel was left with busted glasses, a cut above his eye and blood streaming down his face after being punched by Astana’s Andriy Grivko. The aggrieved German rider refused to accept the Astana’s apology and called for the Ukrainian, who was disqualified from the event, to be banned for six months. In the end the 33-year-old, who denied wrongdoing and said Kittel had spat at him, was given a ban of 45 days, and Kittel went on to win the race.

Mark Renshaw vs Julian Dean – Tour de France 2010

After helping Mark Cavendish to a sprint victory in Bourg-lès-Valence during the 2010 Tour de France, HTC-Columbia lead-out man Mark Renshaw was accused of head-butting Garmin-Transitions' Julian Dean to allow Cav through. The Australian claimed ago was just using "track tactics" and leaning in, but after reviewing the replay, the race jury disqualified Renshaw.

Rui Costa vs Carlos Barredo – Tour de France 2010

Conditions were steaming hot during that Tour, and tempers also rose between Rui Costa (Caisse d'Epargne) and Quick Step's Carlos Barredo over sharp elbows during the sprint to the end of the longest stage. After the finish, Costa punched Barredo, who responded by bashing the Portuguese rider over the head with his bike wheel. The two swapped more blows, and various insults about each other's mothers, before finally being separated. Perhaps because the incident happened after the stage had finished, both riders were allowed to continue competing in the tour, but they were each fined 400 Swiss Francs.

Jonas Vingegaard has said he will remain at Visma-Lease a Bike for the remainder of his career, adding that he will likely retire before he is 35.

The Dane, currently 29, was speaking during a rest day press conference at the Giro d'Italia, in which he is wearing the leader's maglia rosa.

After speculation over a possible future move to Netcompany-Ineos, whose new title sponsor is a Danish company, Vingegaard was asked whether he could imagine spending the rest of his career with his current team. He has a deal with Visma which runs until 2028 at the moment.

“This year is my eighth year as a pro,” Vingegaard said. “I also don’t see myself riding until I’m 35. I’m turning 30, so that’s actually not in so many years. I would also say that I don’t see myself changing team. To add to that, I see myself finishing my career in this team.”

“I’ve said in the last few years that I’ll take it year by year,” he said. “That’s what I’ve done at least since my [Itzulia Basque Country] crash in 2024, and at this moment I don’t see myself retiring. If I still enjoy it, then I will keep riding."

If Vingegaard does win the current Giro d'Italia, and few would bet against that at this point, his victory roll will include many of the biggest races in the sport – or at least those he could feasibly win without becoming a different kind of rider.

But there are a number of stage races the Dane would still like to tick off, he says.

“Obviously this would be a big goal for me, winning here in the Giro,” he said. “But I also haven’t won all the one-week stage races, which would be nice to win. I’ve won a few of them, so that’s also nice, but there are still some big races for me to try to win.”

He has won most of the current smaller WorldTour stage races, but the Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie have both so far eluded him – something he may wish to address. Of the biggest one-day races that could suit him, there are also the World Championships; he was also asked about his intentions there yesterday, but was non-committal.

“It’s still four months on the horizon, so I have no answer whether I’m doing it or not," he said. "I’ve said all the time that now I’m doing the Giro and the Tour. That’s my priority now. After the Tour I will see how I feel, and then I will make a decision on what to do.”

Vingegaard will be called upon to defend his pink jersey once again at today's Giro stage 16, which takes place Switzerland with the finish contested on the cat-one climb to Carì – 11.6km at 8%.

Fredrik Dversnes won stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia from the breakaway on Sunday after the four escapees won the day on the streets of Milan. The Uno-X Mobility rider sprinted clear of the four-man breakaway group to take the most unexpected of wins.

With the break taking the top four places, Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta) was second and Martin Macellusi (Baridani-CSF 7 Saber) third. The peloton trailed home five seconds down, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) leading the way in fifth place.

The stage was affected by what some general classification riders and teams deemed was an unsafe final circuit, which was lapped almost five times. Confusion reigned for a while as team representatives discussed the conditions with the race direction, allowing the breakaway riders to maintain their lead.

There was panic among some of the sprinters' teams as they saw the chance of a win disappear up the road, Lidl-Trek even sending their GC rider Derek Gee-West to contribute to the chase.

It would be unfair to say the peloton only won because of the confusion in the peloton. The four riders were the first up the road as the 157km stage rolled out of Voghera, building lead of three minutes at high speed. They then held off a determined chase, the race finishing with an average speed of an incredible 51.3km/h.

Eventually a decision was made to neutralise the the general classification times at the start of the final 16.3km lap, meaning Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) continues to lead into the third and final week.

"[I had ] Super good help from the other guys in the breakaway, the Italian from Bardiani and the Polti guys, they were really strong today," Dversnes said. "I knew I had some good opportunities, because I'm pretty good at going in breakaways so this was my big shot."

"You always think about it on the way, but when we still had two minutes pretty late in the race you are, of course, not believing, but you have to think about what to do and what's important to do, and not think about what happens.

"I have been joking this Giro that I will try to trick the peloton on one of these sprint stages, so I really wanted to prove that, so I'm super glad to make it."

HOW IT HAPPENED

After Saturday's punishing mountain stage, the second full week of the 2026 Giro d'Italia closed with the flattest road stage of the entire race. Starting in Voghera and finishing in Milan the 157km stage climbed less than 400m and was expected to finish with a bunch sprint.

After leaving Voghera, the route took the Giro peloton north east, joining a city circuit 73.5km from the finish, then crossing the finish line 12km later for four full 16.3km laps.

With the stage always likely to conclude in a bunch kick, and on the back of Saturday's Alpine stage, the fight for the day's breakaway was predicted to brief, and so it seemed, Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) and the Polti-VisitMalta pair of Mattia Bais and Mirco Maestri soon up the road.

However, Alpecin-Premier Tech were intent on joining them and persisted, breaching the sprinters' teams attempts at blocking the road, before the leading quartet were fully established. Their efforts were in vain, though, and sure enough, with 140km to go, the breakaway had built a lead of two minutes, which soon settled around the 2.30 mark.

The break took maximum points at the intermediate sprint in Pavia, 107km from the line, but, with one point remaining the peloton produced a battle between classification leader, Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates) and the previous maglia ciclamino, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step). In the end the Frenchman won easily, moving level with the triple stage winner Narváez on 131 points.

Working on the front of the pack, Lidl-Trek, Soudal Quick-Step and Unibet-Rose Rockets took 30 seconds off the leaders as they dipped inside 90km to go, but once again it settled, even onto the closing laps around Milan.

The final circuit presented the peloton with a number of kinks, one deep inside the final 500m. With some barriers pushed out into the course and their feet protruding even further, the GC riders felt it was dangerous. As the laps continued some of those GC teams made representations to race direction who eventually decided to neutralise, first the final 5km then the closing lap for general classification timings.

These discussions meant the breakaway's advantage remained around the two minute mark, however, the four leaders seemed doomed as their lead was down to 1.30 as the penultimate loop began. But with the breakaway continuing to ride at more than 51km, the sprinters' teams began to run out of firepower and the escapees started the last 17km with their lead stubbornly over one minute.

Only as the closing lap began a safe hundred metres later was any kind of concerted chase forthcoming. Some teams sacrificed their lead out riders in the pursuit, other even their GC riders, and the deficit began dropping. Not enough, though, as the breakaway had their day in the Milan sun.

RESULTS

GIRO D'ITALIA, STAGE 15, VOGHERA > MILAN (157KM)

1. Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, in 3:03:18
2. Mirco Maestri (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta, s.t.
3. Martin Marcellusi (Ita) Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber, s.t.
4. Mattia Bais (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta, s.t.
5. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, +5s
6. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets, s.t.
7. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Uno-X Mobility, s.t.
8. Ethan Vernon (Gbr) NSN Cycling, s.t.
9. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, s.t.
10. Luca Mozzato (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling, s.t

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 15

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 59:12:56
2. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2:26
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:50
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +3:03
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:43
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:22
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +4:46
8. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +5:22
9. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +5:41
10. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, 6:13

Jonas Vingegaard took the Giro d'Italia general classification by the scruff of the neck on Saturday, with a decisive win on stage 14.

On one of the toughest stages of the 21 of this year's event, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider attacked a group of favourites with 4.8km of the stage to go, riding to the final alone and taking the overall lead with seven stages to go.

Vingegaard's attack instantly distanced Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), though, even with Davide Piganzzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially on his wheel. The Austrian managed his effort, dropping the Italian and finishing in second place, 49 seconds down.

Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) was third a further nine seconds behind.

Always touted as a decisive stage, it saw Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) cede the race leader's maglia rosa, after the Portuguese rider took it on stage five. Eulálio spent much of the final climb close to the back of the favourites' group and was dropped with 9km remaining, he battled on though, eventually finishing 115th, though he remains second overall. He's now 2.26 behind Vingegaard, with Gall third, a further 245 seconds back.

The day also saw Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) slip one spot down the GC to fourth place, just ahead of Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).

Vingegaard's victory came on the back of a dominant performance from his Visma-Lease a Bike team. They were dominant throughout the stage, which began with a first category climb and ascended more than 4,000m over the 133km. They monitored the breakaway from the neutral zone until the last of a huge bunch of escapees was finally brought to heel just over 5km from the line.

"I think this one is the one I will remember the most today," Vingegaard said after the stage. "We made a plan from the start with the team and we wanted to control the race and that's what my team mates did. They did an incredible job all day, it was really impressive how they rode, I'm so proud of my team mates and I'm so proud that I can pay them back, it's a super nice win.

"It's always a bit of improvisation, we said when it got steep in the end we wanted to try, then Piganzoli, I almost didn't have to attack today, he rode everyone out of my wheel almost, so that was really impressive," he said of the winning attack.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Giro d'Italia's third weekend began with its third mountain top finish, the peloton heading into the Alps for the first time for a short but incredibly sharp stage. The entire 133km stage was held around Aosta, in Italy's far north west, starting in the city and climbing almost 4,200m over five classified climbs before reaching the finish at the ski resort in Pila.

It was uphill from the gun, the race heading straight up the first category Saint Barthélémy climb, a 16km ascent at an average 6% gradient. Visma-Lease a Bike were among those warming up on the rollers before the stage, and their controlling strategy was clear from the start, their yellow jerseys across the front as the flag dropped.

They initially allowed three riders up the road, but as the climb progressed a huge number of others escaped, Enric Mas one of four Movistar riders among the 29-man group, with triple stage winner Jhonatan Narváez among three from UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

From that group Narváez's team mate, Jan Christen escaped, taking Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost) with him, the pair building a lead of 20 seconds on the group. While Visma initially did a good job of holding the leading within 20 seconds, they allowed it to grow, the two leaders cresting the climb leading the other breakaway group by 30 seconds, the peloton a further minute down.

That did not last long though, Christen and Van der Lee were both caught on the descent, while the peloton, with Vingegaard's team still intact on the front, drifted out to 1.30.

The leading group comprised 23 riders when it reached the 10km flat after the descent, and they worked to expand their lead, which had grown to three minutes when they reached the intermediate sprint. There Narváez took maximum points, wresting the maglia ciclamino from points classification leader Paul Magnier, despite the attentions of the Frenchman's Soudal Quick-Step team mate, Gianmarco Garofoli.

The sprint heralded the start of the second climb, the third category Doues. On the climb riders began to drop from the leading group, while others upped the pace. Stage 5 winner, Igor Arietta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took maximum points on the climb, briefly drifting off the front of a reduced group on the descent, while the peloton had dropped back further, their deficit 3.45.

Averaging 7.8% over its 7.5km, the Lin Noir climb came next and it was here that Visma-Lease a Bike went to work, Vingegaard's five remaining domestiques beginning to erode a gap which had maxed out at 3.50. They didn't do the work on their own though, the Bahrain Victorious team of race leader, Afonso Eulálio providing some assistance. Over the top, with 50km of the stage remaining, the leading group had lost some 30 seconds, Visma's Tim Rex turning himself inside out to make the difference.

After only the briefest of descents, Rex led onto the day's penultimate climb, to Verrogne. Though it was less challenging than its predecessor, Visma took more time out of the breakaway, whose advantage was only 2.36 as the race entered its final 40km.

The ascent of the climb to the ski station to Pila climb consisted of a relatively consistent gradient, but at 7% over its 16.6km, it was challenging enough. Of the 27 riders remaining in the peloton, five of them were from Visma-Lease a Bike, though their deficit was still over two minutes at the bottom. However, as soon as they began winding their way though the vineyards on the lower slopes, that began to drop, and with 13.9km left, it was less than two minutes.

With 10km to Einar Rubio (Movistar) instigated a number of moves from the diminished breakaway group, but, though each attack saw one more rider dropped, nothing stuck and behind them, their advantage dropped below 50 seconds, 8km from the line.

Rubio and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) were the final two breakaway riders to be caught, just over 5km of the day remaining, Davide Piganzoli the last of Vingegaard's team mates to to take his turn. His final effort saw to Thymen Arensman (Netcompnay Ineos), before his Danish leader's attack saw to the rest of his rivals with 4.8km to go.

RESULTS

GIRO D'ITALIA, STAGE 14, AOSTA > PILA (133KM)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:53:01
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +49s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +58s
4. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:03
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, s.t.
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:23
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:35
8. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets, +2:08
9. January Hirt (Cze) NSN Cycling, s.t.
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 14

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 56:08:41
2. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2:26
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:50
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +3:03
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:43
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:22
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +4:46
8. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +5:22
9. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +5:41
10. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, 6:13

It's mid-May and we are, truly, in the thick of it. With the Giro d'Italia in full swing, and the Donnes warming up for their Cesenatico-start in just over a week, the spring has flown by in a flurry of cauliflower cars, dominant youngsters and crash-marred races.

But the grind don't stop; and the internet never sleeps. Where the Giro has, at times, been less than thrilling, the internet has made up for in spades. Jonas Vingegaard weighing in on the 'pee-gate'? Filippo Ganna heading into next week bolstered by another stage win and an honorary degree? This is a week in cycling's social media.

1. Would you pee in a bottle mid-bike ride? Or rather - could you? The Visma-Lease a Bike team break down the latest peloton drama, and tip their hats at those talented enough to multitask.

2. What to eat before a stage at the Giro d’Italia? First things first: coffee, followed by a hearty spread of smoked salmon and avocado. Jack Haig (Netcompany-Ineos) is living the good life.

3. Madis Mihkels (EF Education-EasyPost) knows Stage 12 inside out. The 177km stage ripples into big climbs just towards the finish after a coastline kick off.

4. You’ve heard of polo (maybe?) but have you heard of bike polo? Or whatever this seems to be? If you can’t bare to be separated from your bike, then this game of two-wheeled hockey could be for you. Shins, beware.

5. 50 wins - and Jonas Vingegaard can remember every one. Before bagging a potential 51st, the Visma Lease a Bike rider counts down every win, from a stage at the Tour de Pologne to the Giro d’Italia’s ninth.

6. Time trial winner Filippo Ganna has been awarded an honorary degree in the 'Theory and Methodology of Training' from the ISFOA Unitelematica International Swiss University in recognition of his Olympic team pursuit gold medal in Tokyo. Simone Consonni and Jonathan Milan also received honorary degrees ahead of stage 7 of the Giro d’Italia.

7. Custom Giro d’Italia pink work shoe, anyone?

8. ‘Full sail towards the unknown’ reads the caption on this video of Jensen Plowright spicing up this climb. ‘Don’t let the UCI see this,’ one comment reads. ‘Straight to jail.’

9. In a big week for bottle related drama (see: the first video in this list), this belated video from In Flanders Field was released this week, showing riders testing out their aim.

10. Meanwhile, away from the Giro, Kasia Niewiadoma Phinney has been on a lovely bike-packing trip – we're quite jealous

Alberto Bettiol barrelled to victory on the shores of Lake Maggiore at the Giro d’Italia on Friday, winning from the breakaway in Verbania.

The XDS-Astana was part of a 15-rider move that formed within the first hour of racing on stage 13. He attacked with 13km to go, choosing the summit of a category-three climb as his launchpad, and soloed like a rocket on rails to the line.

"In theory, I won already before the start because I had all my family here, and my second family, because my girlfriend and all her family are from Verbania. I consider Verbania my second home," Bettiol said afterwards.

The 32-year-old, who trains regularly out of nearby Lugano in Switzerland, went on to explain that his local knowledge was key to his victory. "I knew every single corner in the last 50km," he said. "I saw the climb a couple of months ago with the motorbike, and I saw a film of the downhill several times. I knew that the last k[ilometre] was really, really strong.

"I expected somebody to attack stronger from the climbers. For me, this climb is really, really at the limit, but I knew that my shape was good and the fact that I knew the climb really helped me. That’s how I won."

Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), dropped by Bettiol's surge on the climb, finished second, 26 seconds down, and ahead of Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) in third.

Bettiol's victory brought a third success for XDS Astana at this year’s Giro, following wins from Guillermo Thomas Silva and Davide Ballerini on stages two and six. The Italian also ended a five-year win drought for himself at his home Grand Tour; his last and only previous Giro victory came in 2021.

"Winning like this is something I will bring forever with me," Bettiol said. "My team-mates have done a really, really amazing Giro so far. I’m happy that I can also be part of this amazing Giro d’Italia for us."

There were no changes in the top 10 of the general classification; Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) continues to lead Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) by 33 seconds.

Saturday's 14th stage will bring one of the shortest but most punishing days of this year's Giro. Only 133km long, the route will take the peloton across the Aosta Valley, climbing a total of 4,350m to a summit finish in Pila.

Results

Giro d'Italia, stage 13: Alessandria > Verbania (189km)

1. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) XDS Astana, in 3:51:33
2. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +26s
3. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +44s
4. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Mark Donovan (GBr) Pinarello Q36.5
6. Josh Kench (NZl) Groupama-FDJ United, all at same time
7. Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +1:33
8. Francesco Busatto (Ita) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +1:35
9. Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Diego Pablo Sevilla (Esp) Polti VisitMalta, both at same time

General classification after stage 13

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 52:15:17
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +33s
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +2.03
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2.30
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +2.50
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3.12
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +3.34
8. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +3.40
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3.42
10. Chris Harper (Aus) Pinarello Q36.5, +4.15

Jonas Vingegaard has been suffering with some degree of sickness while cycling the Giro d'Italia, it was revealed by Visma Lease-a-Bike’s sports director yesterday.

Talking to the Dutch media, Jesper Mørkøv admitted that several of his team had not been in perfect fitness for much of the preceding week, and that Vingegaard was among those affected.

“Yes, we have had a bit of coughing and tickling in the throat among some of the boys," he told TV2 Sport, before qualifying that the situation was relatively minor, and mostly resolved. Pressed on whether Vingegaard was among the riders showing symptoms of sickness, Mørkøv said: “He has also been one of them, but everything seems to be fine.”

The Danish rider has also been labouring under a heavy weight of expectation, due to being widely considered the overwhelming favourite for this year's Giro. He has won two stages so far, but failed to perform at his best on the TT bike during stage 10, losing time to race rivals Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) during the time trial stage that was convincingly won by Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos).

The under par performance in the time trial led to some people, including Geraint Thomas, questioning whether the Danish rider was currently firing on all cylinders.

Vingegaard remains in second position in the general classification, but he did lose another six seconds to race leader Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) during stage 12 and now trails Portuguese rider by 33 seconds, a margin the current maglia rosa wearer secured by taking the bonus seconds at the Red Bull KM on Thursday.

The 2026 Giro has been a battle of attrition so far, with riders succumbing to illness and injury and myriad crashes, the worst of which was on stage two, and the list of abandonees growing daily. However, there is no suggestion that Vingegaard is seriously ill, or that he won’t be able to continue, and the Dane remains the favourite.

When the Giro d’Italia race jury called on riders this week to stop urinating in bottles and discarding them, the response, naturally, was to look for the culprit.

The act was “strictly prohibited”, the race organisers reminded. Besides, who would do it anyway? Over the past few days, the investigation has gathered pace online under the moniker ‘pee-gate’. A Canadian outlet dubbed it ‘the icky bottle phenomenon’. Meanwhile, the Belgian press set out to ask riders who they thought was behind the offence.

“It doesn’t happen often,” XDS Astana’s Arjen Livyns told Het Nieuwsblad. “I’ve never done it myself, and I actually only know one rider who definitely does: Victor Campenaerts. I think he invented the concept, because he was already doing it when we rode together at Lotto.”

Livyns wasn't the only rider to point to Campenaerts. The Belgian's name then came up again, this time from the mouth of his compatriot Oliver Naesen (Decathlon CMA CGM) in an interview with Sporza. “I only know two who do it: Campi and [Peter] Sagan,” he said. The latter retired two years ago.

Though Campenaerts was not named in the race jury’s statement after stage nine, there was a damning paper trail behind him: he was fined 200 CHF (£190 / $250) the previous day for “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (urinating in front of public during the race at Km 76) and damage to the image of sport”.

So, was it Campenaerts who triggered the warning? Is he the bottle-peeing pioneer, as Livyns claimed? And, more importantly, why was he doing it?

As Thursday’s 12th stage got under way, Campenaerts addressed the accusations in one of his daily Instagram vlogs, titled 'pee-gate statement'.

“By very very popular demand, I will give an explanation about the pee bottle,” he began.

“We ride the bikes through the whole country, and I think by law in most countries it’s forbidden to urinate in public. Next to that, there are a lot of crowds at the side of the road.”

Campenaerts's solution was simple: “I will pee in the bottle to not pee in somebody’s front yard, or not pee on people that are next to the road, then just give the bottle to the cars behind. Only good intentions.

“Unfortunately we don’t have a pee zone or toilets at the side of the roads, like you see in triathlon, so we are a bit forced in long events – five-six hours, sometimes seven hours – to find our place to pee. Sometimes it’s challenging, but it’s now forbidden by the UCI. So you will never see me doing that again.

“The accusation of me being the ‘inventor’ might be right, but it’s forbidden now. Won’t happen again.”

UCI rule 8.6 prohibits riders from “urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race”. The governing body also has strict rules on disposing of bottles, which it says riders must not do in a “careless or dangerous manner”.

No riders have received fines for urinating at the Giro d'Italia since stage nine's warning. If Campenaerts is indeed the peloton's only culprit, the 'pee-gate' saga may now officially be over.

Jhonatan Narváez took his third win of the 2026 Giro d'Italia on stage 11, after the Ecuadorian rider made the most of his superior sprint to take victory in a two-man dash for the line.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider kept Enric Mas (Movistar) at bay, after the Spaniard had led the way over the final climb of an undulating but tough and intense day.

Having endured a long road to recovery after crashes, injury and sickness, Mas was in fine fighting form, chasing his first stage win since 2022. And it might have felt tantalisingly close in the last few metres, but in reality Narváez was never going to lose in a two-horse race between the pair. Still, the Spaniard gave it a solid crack, and succeeded in making Narváez nervous in the process.

"I was scared because he almost tried to close me in the barriers, and I was on the limit," admitted the UAE rider immediately after nailing the win. "All day it was full gas racing. Not just in the uphill but the downhill also.

"When we started we said we have to jump in the breakaway because it's our goal. Then we missed the first group, then we missed the second group, then after two hours of hard racing I tried to jump straight to the breakaway, this was difficult. Enric Mas was the strongest in the climb, and I knew I had to play my game.

"He's stronger than me on the climbs. But I always remember a book I was reading, which said, if you don't have your game, just make your own game. You won't see Michael Phelps running - he's a specialist in the pool. And I just tried to defend myself in the uphills."

Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious ) put in a solid ride and will spend yet another another day in the Maglia Rosa, after tour favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) failed to seize control of the race during the monstrous 42km-long time-trial stage yesterday. The Dane remains in second position overall, 27 seconds behind Eulálio (who recently confessed to ignoring call from the Portuguese president, because it came up with an unrecognised number).

After a swift start, when riders were averaging 50km/ph for a couple of hours, the breakaway dominated the latter part of the day, during a stage in which riders faced some stiff hills and categorised times rather than actual mountains as they rode 195km, starting from Porcari and finishing at the town of Chiavari for the first time since the 1950s.

The peloton were a full 3 minutes behind by the time the lead group neared the top of Colla Dei Scioli (406m), but three of the breakaway riders – Filippo Ganna (Soudal–Quick-Step), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto–Intermarché) and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) – crashed during the descent, and although they remounted and Scaroni in particular put in a valiant effort, they were unable to recatch the lead riders.

With 25km to go, Narváez and Mas were in the leading group, along with Diego Ulissi (XDS-Astana), Chris Harper Pinarello Q36.5) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), as Scaroni desperately trying to fight his way back.

Mas went on the attack during the final 4km-long final climb, which featured a Red Bull Kilometre. Narváez hung tight to his rear wheel, Harper was digging deep and trying to stay with them, while Ulissi rode a more controlled climb to stay within reach. Mas got the bonus points for the climb, but he was outgunned on the finish straight and had to settle for second, with Ulissi just pipping the Australian Harper to the line for third.

Giro d'Italia stage 11: Porcari > Chiavari, 195km

1. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:33:43

2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, at s.t.

3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) XDS-Astana, +8s

4. Chris Harper (Aus) Pinarello Q36.5

5. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, both s.t.

6. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +1.22

7. Ludovico Crescioli (Ita) Polti-VisitMalta, at s.t.

8. Simone Gualdi (Ita) Lotto-Intermarché +2.20

9. Warren Barguil (Fra) Picnic PostNL

10. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, all at s.t.

GC results

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 44:17:41

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +27s

3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1.57

4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2.24

5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +2.48

6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3.06

7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +3.28

8. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +3.34

9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3.36

10. Chris Harper (Aus) Pinarello Q36.5, +4.09

Netcompany-Ineos director of racing Geraint Thomas questioned the condition of Giro d'Italia favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), following the Dane's slightly disappointing performance in the stage 10 time trial.

Speaking on his Watts Occurring podcast after the stage, he said: "Jonas, I expected more from him. Maybe he's been a bit sick or something."

On a stage where he was counted among the favourites, Vingegaard finished 13th, 2:59 behind winner Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), and losing time to GC rivals Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla).

Thomas added: "Even on the mountains – don't get me wrong, he smashed everyone he won two stages – but the standards he's set, along with Pog [Tadej Pogačar]... if he was at his best, the gap to [GC rival Felix] Gall would be bigger. It just feels like that gap between Jonas and the rest is a lot closer [than you'd expect] on those mountain stages and today. He's not pinging.

"But, saying that," said the Welsh former Tour de France winner, "he's still leading out of the GC guys, still in a really strong position. Part of me thinks he's not been 100%."

Conversely, the stage was a superb one for Thomas's team, who fielded both the stage winner and the runner-up in Ganna and Arensman – the latter boosting his hopes for the GC, now lying in third place.

"Obviously Pippo absolutely smashed it, almost two minutes to second place who was Thymen. Which was good for us as he gained time on all the GC boys," Thomas said.

Assessing the rides of GC players, he praised the fifth-place ride Gee-West, and also the battling performance by maglia rosa Alfonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious).

"Just off the top of my head I think Derek Gee, he did a good ride," Thomas said. "If you're thinking expectations, above or below, I think he was solid.

"Fair play to Eulálio," he added. "They [Bahrain Victorious] should keep it for three days or so now really."

Missing out on claiming the jersey on the stage would have bothered Vingegaard less than his below-par performance and time lost to other GC players, judged Thomas: "I think he'll be like, ah it's fine, Bahrain can control for another three days."

While Thomas drove a Netcompany-Ineos team car behind Magnus Sheffield during the stage, Thomas had a very good idea of what the US rider was going through, he said, because he'd suffered through a recon ride with the team's big guns himself that morning.

Riding with Ganna, Arensman and others, who were all in aero finery, Thomas was on a road bike. He'd been promised a steady ride, he said, but it didn't quite turn out that way.

"Mate, it was the longest 42km of my life," he told Watts Occurring co-host Luke Rowe. "I was swinging the whole way round. Just riding to the start I felt like an imposter, like a big fan boy you know?"

Next time, perhaps Thomas will take the advice of fellow Netcompany-Ineos staffer Elia Viviani, who warned him that it would be hard going.

There has been speculation that Jonas Vingegaard is deliberately holding himself back at this Giro d'Italia, conscious of the fact that the Tour de France is also on his radar.

Judging by the Visma-Lease a Bike rider's two stage wins to date, where he put time into his general classification rivals without blowing them out of the water, perhaps that is the case. There is also the small matter of more mountains to come at this Giro. Also, it is perhaps in his interests not to take the pink jersey too early, and get Afonso Eulálio and Bahrain Victorious to do more of the work.

However, it did not seem to the plan to hold back on Tuesday, when the Dane simply had a relatively bad day on the TT bike on stage 10. Being Vingegaard, his bad day was not catastrophic, but it was not the good day that many expected; he is still waiting to take over pink when Eulálio fades, as expected.

"Terrible. It was terrible. It was very long and not my specialty to do a flat time trial like this. I've never been super good at it, and to be honest, I came through pretty well today," Vingegaard said in his post-race interview.

He almost three minutes behind stage winner Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), which can be allowed, but he lost over a minute to Ganna's teammate Thymen Arensman, a GC threat, 45 seconds to Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), and 15 seconds to Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla). None of this is groundbreaking, but it is time lost that Vingegaard would rather still have.

"I think that a completely flat time trial like this benefits the bigger guys a bit more. The more power you have," he said.

Vingegaard still has to do podium duties, as the leader of the mountains classification, but he's dreaming of bigger things. Arensman is now his nearest threat, 1:30 behind, with Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) just under 30 seconds further back.

"I think I'm in a good spot at the moment," he said. "Of course, I am close to the pink jersey now. It would have been nice to have the pink jersey already, but I think every day in the jersey would be a pleasure and something you have to be happy about. Of course, I'm also happy with the blue jersey; it's not a problem. In the end, I'm in a good spot."

His next outright GC opportunity comes on stage 14, with a day of back-to-back mountains in the Aosta Valley, before the showdown in the Dolomites on stage 19, and a final mountain day on stage 20.

Pre-stage favourite Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) pulled out a storming time trial to win at a canter on stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia 2026.

Despite the 42km distance – the longest Giro d'Italia time trial in more than 10 years – the Italian rider put in an ultra-fast 54.9kph ride, to record 45.53 – a full 1.54 ahead of runner-up Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos).

The stage was also billed as a big one for the GC, and it did not disappoint. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) put in a rather average shift by his own high standards, and maglia rosa Alfonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) managed to hold on to the GC lead by 27 seconds over the Dane with a tenacious ride.

Further down the top-10 saw multiple GC shuffles with various riders gaining – or losing – unexpected chunks of time.

Afterwards a jovial Ganna – who was no doubt pleased to have finished a two-hour-plus stint in the hot seat – praised his team, and said he was not done yet.

"I think we did an amazing job this winter, especially with the GC riders like Thymen [Arensman], who rode really well for the second place – like at Tirreno-Adriatico [where the pair also finished one-two in the ITT]," he said.

"It's a good victory for us here. We'll enjoy tonight and then we'll stay focused for the last 14 days."

Of the course, which suited him to a tee, he said: "It's really nice, with a long TT like this, I really like it. I'm really happy to finally find a good TT for me, without a climb," he joked.

With Friday's stage finishing in his home town of Verbania, his stage-hunting intentions did not stop today, he said: "From today starts another Giro for Filippo. Now we want another victory in a [road stage]. Why not try Friday for me – as well as another stage, obviously if it's less than 4,000 metres," he quipped.

The coastal course between Viareggio and Massa was characterised by long, straight and wide roads that dialled up the mental challenge and seemed to suit some more than others. GC hopefuls going away pleased tonight will include Arensman with his impressive second on the stage that boosted him to third overall at 1.57.

Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) declared himself "super-happy" with a fifth place on the stage that saw him jump six places to eighth on GC, although he described the long, straight parcours as "brutal – nothing to focus on but how much it hurts."

Those who will be hoping for better luck in the coming stages include Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who has looked like Vingegaard's biggest rival so far but who lost 1.22 to the Dane today and drops to fourth on GC.

Battling rides from Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe pair Giulio Pellizzari and Jai Hindley saw them lose 18 and 31 seconds respectively to Vingegaard, with Pellizzari static at ninth on GC and Hindley dropping two places to sixth.

The race continues tomorrow with a long, hilly stage to Chiavari which the GC contenders may be tempted to call 'truce' on, at least just for a day, and let the breakaways roam free.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026 stage 10 ITT: Viareggio > Massa, 42km

1. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Netcompany-Ineos, in 45:53
2. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:54
3. Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +1:59
4. Sjoerd Bax (Ned) Pinarello Q36.5, +2:04
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +2:16
6. Max Walscheid (Ger) Lidl-Trek, +2:17
7. Johan Price-Pejtersen (Den) Alpecin-Premier Tech, +2:29
8. Mikkel Bjerg, (Den) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:33
9. Lorenzo Milesi (Ita) Movistar, +2:42
10. Niklas Larsen (Den) Unibet Rose Rockets, +2:42

General Classification after stage 10

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 39:40:34
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +27s
3. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1:57
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:24
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +2:48
6. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:06
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +3:28
8. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +3:34
9. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +3:36
10. Markel Beloki (Esp) EF Education-EasyPost, + 4:16

It all started with a song by Queen. No, not Bicycle Race, or Tenement Funster for that matter. It was I Want It All, which Guy Voisin, now Warner Bros. Discovery Sport's VP for cycling, sent to his company's head of rights, when he was asked just how much cycling he wanted to be able to show.

'All' is a pretty accurate word to describe the level of live cycling coverage that WBD, through TNT Sports and HBO Max, show in the UK. After the demise of ITV's cycling coverage, and the closure of Eurosport, TNT Sports is now truly the home of cycling , something the company has taken care to construct.

"Whether it be rights, production, the team on site, having the right commentators, and having the right experts talk to an audience, we haven't left any stone unturned," Scott Young, EVP at WBD Sports, argued last week. "I genuinely hope that's how the industry feels that we tackle cycling. I would say we don't do it as consistently through the year with any other sport."

TNT Sports, and therefore HBO Max, has exclusive rights to the Grand Tours, including the Tour de France for 2026, and the Classics, as well as all WorldTour and Women's WorldTour races, cyclo-cross, and UCI MTB World Cups too.

For all the justified criticism of TNT Sports, including its cost (£30.99 a month on a rolling contract, or £25.99 on a 12-month plan), and the removal of the ad-free streaming option last summer, it is hard to avoid the fact that it is the home of cycling, and that a team of passionate people work hard behind and in front of the scenes. The idea for the audience is to "take me there and make me care".

"It’s a journey, and we’re asking cycling fans to come on that journey with us," Young says. "We need to demonstrate our commitment to cycling. If Eurosport was the base product, that’s a fantastic base to start with. We need to explain to cycling fans that whilst the price point has increased, so has our commitment to cycling, we continue to invest in cycling at every level.

"I think they just need to come along with the journey. And then it's really up to the individual, whether they believe the value is there or not. We can't tell them if the value is there or not."

To show us how they go about creating that value, Cycling Weekly was taken on a trip to Italy for stage six of the Giro d'Italia, and then to the TNT Sports studios in Stockley Park, west London to see how it all comes together.

The highest-profile member of that passionate team is Orla Chennaoui, who is firmly established as the face of cycling on the home of cycling. Her passion radiates through the screen, and is based on strong foundations – she reveals that she listens to podcast upon podcast of cycling content every night, and reads all the reaction and reports too.

"The whole live programme is quite an orchestrated dance," Chennaoui explains, taking time out of her busy schedule of watching the Blockhaus stage to talk us through her day. "Everything in that post [stage] show comes from our heads, which I love. It's the spontaneity of it. It's the potential chaos of it that never tips over. But it's that genuine reaction off the back of whatever we've just seen. If something shocking has happened, it's a real shock. There's nothing fabricated about it, which is the joy of live television."

There's organised chaos behind the cameras, too, as the director in the gallery back in Stockley Park decides what feed is shown to the viewer, both before, during, and after the stage. The main feed itself comes from the Giro's organisers, RCS Sport, with TNT Sports having little say over what footage is beamed over from Italy, but everything after that is decided here.

The commentary teams are currently split between WBD's London and Paris offices, with Matt Stephens, Robbie McEwen and Adam Blythe coming from the UK, and Rob Hatch and Sean Kelly coming from France. Not that you'd know that they were not only in different rooms, but different countries.

For the dozen weeks of the year that she is based in west London, covering the Grand Tours and the Classics for TNT Sports, pro cycling for Chennaoui is everything.

"It's really hard to switch off, and mostly I kind of don't want to, I think, when you're in the Grand Tour bubble," she says. "I come here for work, my family are all in Amsterdam, so I'm FaceTiming them, but I'm here to work. I'm here to fully absorb myself in the bubble of the Giro or the Tour de France or the Vuelta, and I really enjoy living and breathing all of that. So sometimes it's actually really hard to switch off and get to sleep, because I'm still hyped about that."

While Chennaoui is in her Grand Tour bubble metaphorically, ensconced within it are TNT Sports' on-site reporters, Hannah Walker, Anders Mielke and Jens Voigt, who provide the on-the-ground reporting and insight that the TV commentators are unable to. This might be interviews around the race, general vibe checks, or, in the case of Voigt, reporting from the back of a motorbike during a stage. Or, as Walker showed last week, a brief bit of football.

After finding a ball in the paddock ahead of stage five, Walker attempted some keepy uppies, which ended with the ball flying into an innocent bystander. All of which was caught on film. "I don't know if you saw it," she tells Cycling Weekly ahead of stage six in Paestum. "That's probably the most spontaneous thing to date. Everyone was fine, by the way. VAR didn't need to get involved. So that was probably the most fun, spontaneous thing. It just happened."

"There's not been a time where teams haven't given us full access to whatever we might need, and it's always very ad hoc," Walker told us when we caught up with her in Italy, shadowed by her loyal cameraman, Bob Vanveen, who carries not just a camera but the transponder sending her reports home. "They're always very willing to allow us that, that access, which is appreciated.

"It's juggling everything, really. I think it's a fine balance of knowing when's the right time, and finding the right tone."

Jens Voigt's in-race experience

Voigt gets to his motorbike after a "minimal programme of fitness" every morning, which consists of 40 press ups and squats, and a bonus 10km run before the stage.

After a convoluted journey involving a transmission unit on his bike, a plane circling above, and satellites, his feed reaches our screens – hence the delay in his conversations with commentators.

"If you look at the way the signal travels, it's mind blowing," the ex-rider says. "How little goes wrong. There's a million things that could go wrong."

"I'm not allowed to talk to the riders," Voigt adds, with a wink. "If they approach me and say hi, I can smile and so on, but I cannot do an interview. We had that some years ago, but they put a stop to it. Of course, there are really precious little moments when riders talk to you. There have been rumours that people have their microphone covered to talk to the riders but I have never seen that, of course."

It has been an adjustment for the man who rode 17 Tours de France, with many peers now working as DSes. "I ask, as a friend or former colleague, how are you?" he explains. "And then, now I ask as a job question, whatever you see now I'm gonna use later. You cannot mix it up, even if they give you something really precious in private."

The product team, steered by Voisin, are excited about new technology on it's way, and those recently adopted, such as multi-view, which has been upgraded for this year's Giro. With commentary running over the top, it offers different views of the race, along with stats; according to Voisin, it was partly created at the behest of cycling teams. 15 HBO Max passes are handed out to each WorldTour and Women's WorldTour team, allowing them to keep up with the action in their cars.

Key moments are now logged by an editorial team, allowing viewers on HBO Max to go back to re-watch, or skip through if they're catching up. Notably, there is a strict policy on crashes to only show them if the rider is known to be OK. Other possible features on the horizon include 'double box adverts', meaning that there might not be any interruption in coverage during an ad break, and also a listen-only feature.

It might be more expensive than fans are used to, and on yet another different platform this year, but it feels as if cycling has a good custodian in TNT Sports. They definitely 'have it all', and are conscious of that. "Cycling is not a small cog or wheel," Young says. "It's a major part of that wheel, and I can't see that changing in the foreseeable future, irrespective of all the other sports around it."

In the US, the Giro is currently also being shown on HBO Max. Keep up to date with how to watch cycling in the UK and across the world with our streaming guide, and take a look at our guide on how to watch cycling for free.

TNT Sports is the Home of Cycling in the UK, with every stage of the Giro d’Italia live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

The first full week at the Giro d'Italia has been a treat for bike racing fans, with thrills, spills, skills and, of course, a whole bunch of hills. The GC battle has ignited, spearheaded by a certain Dane, but other players have stepped forward from the wings and proved themselves to be far greater than bit-parts in what could turn out to be an epic Italian saga.

The race moved back from Bulgaria to its homeland last Monday, and the rest of the week ran the whole gamut between hills and mountains, with predictably exciting results. Read on for our take on what's gone on.

Jonas Vingegaard looks good, but he's not the only one

Stalking the maglia rosa like a wiry beast of prey, Jonas Vingegaard already has two stages in the bag and is currently eyeing the GC leader's spot menacingly from second place.

Right now, there isn't anything to suggest that the Visma-Lease a Bike rider isn't well capable of pushing onwards into the later part of the race and fulfilling his dream of winning all three Grand Tours.

And yet, with two surging mountain wins – one on the Blockhaus on stage seven, and one on Corno alle Scale on Sunday's stage nine, fans might have expected him to be sitting pretty in pink with a significant gap to second. It will be interesting to see how the battle plays out.

Alfonso Eulálio's impressively tight grip on pink

The rider that currently has what Vingegaard wants is Portugal's Alfonso Eulálio. He slipped into the maglia rosa almost by accident thanks to his endeavours in the breakaway on a slapstick stage five (remember that one?) and has clung on tenaciously ever since.

The Bahrain Victorious rider only moved up from the third-tier ranks at the start of last season, and his time trial previous suggests he might be lucky to hang on to pink in tomorrow's long ITT – but the extra watts a Grand Tour leader's jersey can bestow upon its wearer can often surprise. He will lose pink at some point, but this race will be cemented in his memory – and his name in fans' minds – for the rest of his career.

Italy's big hope scuppered by stomach issues

After his win at the Tour of the Alps in April, Italian fans had placed a lot of eggs in the Giulio Pellizzari basket this Giro. The hosts have not fielded a home winner since Vincenzo Nibali back in 2016 and are eager for another.

While only the most fervent optimists would have been backing the 22-year-old Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider to wear pink in Rome, a final podium finish did not seem out of reach. Unfortunately for Pellizzari and the tifosi, that may have been rendered far more difficult by the stomach issues that saw him cede 1.28 on stage nine to winner Vingegaard.

He now sits ninth on GC, nearly three minutes back on the Dane, and a minute-and-a-half behind fellow maglia rosa hopefuls Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Jai Hindley, his teammate.

Welcome back, Jhonatan Narváez

While one South American rider has had a disappointing Giro d'Italia so far, another has done an impressive job of making up for it.

Netcompany-Ineos's Egan Bernal will definitely have hoped to have been sitting somewhere above the 17th on GC that he currently occupies, although the second half of the team's two-pronged attempt on pink, Thymen Arensman, is not out of the running yet, sixth on GC and 2.36 behind Vingegaard.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Ecuadorian puncheur Jhonatan Narvaez, however, won two well-taken stage wins last week, on stage four and stage eight, both on uphill finishes. In what is his first race back since crashing out of the Tour Down Under in January, Narváez is clearly on fine form. Could we see another?

Felix Gall takes the fight to Vingegaard

With Portugal's Joāo Almeida out of the picture, ducking out of participation ahead of the race due to illness, many were wondering who would be able to stop Vingegaard pulling off a win in the style of his Tour de France nemesis Tadej Pogačar and simply waltzing away with it. In Decathlon CMA CGM's Felix Gall, we appear to have found the answer. Despite all-in uphill attacks on two stages by Vingegaard, Gall remains only 35 seconds behind the big favourite.

Fifth in last year's Tour de France, Gall's tenacious riding this week have marked him out as Vingegaard's biggest rival, for now. His sports director Luke Roberts reckons he will only get better as the race continues. Great for Gall, great for fans, not quite so good for Vingegaard.

The organisers of the Giro d’Italia have made an unusual plea to riders, reminding them that it is “strictly prohibited” to urinate in bottles and toss them to the roadside.

The message came at the bottom of the jury report following Sunday’s ninth stage, which was won by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in Corno alle Scale.

Simply titled ‘statement’, it read: “To respect the image of cycling and the Giro d’Italia, the Organiser and the Commissaires’ Panel inform all riders that urinating into a bottle and subsequently discarding it is strictly prohibited.”

The jury did not name any riders guilty of the offence within the statement. They did, however, give a 200 CHF (£190 / $255) fine to Lotto Intermarché’s Lennert Van Eetvelt for “urinating in front of the public during the race at km 33” of the same stage.

UCI rule 8.6 prohibits riders from “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour (in particular undressing or urinating in public at the start or finish or during the race) and damage to the image of the sport”. This offence carries a fine of 200 CHF to 500 CHF (£475 / $637) in a WorldTour race like the Giro d’Italia.

There is no specific rule relating to urinating in a bottle and discarding it. On disposing of bottles, the UCI rulebook says: “The rider must safely and exclusively deposit their waste on the sides of the road in the litter zones provided by the organiser. The rider may not jettison anything on the roadway itself. The rider may also dispose of bottles and clothing to team cars or organisation vehicles or with the team staff in charge of riders’ feeding.”

If a rider is deemed to have disposed of waste “in a careless or dangerous manner”, they can receive a fine of 500 CHF and a penalty of 25 UCI points. As examples of what constitutes this behaviour, the UCI lists: “bottle or other object remaining or bouncing back on the road, thrown directly or with excessive force at spectator, causing dangerous manoeuvre by other rider or vehicle, causing spectator to move onto the road.”

Jayco AlUla’s Christopher Juul Jensen received a 200 CHF fine and was docked 25 UCI points for “disposing of waste or other objects outside of litter zones” on stage nine.

Likewise, Pinarello Q36.5 rider David de la Cruz was fined 500 CHF for “unseemly or inappropriate behaviour and damage to the image of sport”. The jury did not specify what this was in relation to. A team representative told Cycling Weekly they understood the sanction to come as a result of an in-race incident involving a bottle.

It is common for riders to urinate at the side of the road in races. Grand Tour stages can sometimes last more than six hours, with riders required to drink litres of water to stay hydrated. As such, riders are typically forgiven for taking nature breaks on quieter stretches of the route, where there are little to no spectators.

Jonas Vingegaard won the Giro d'Italia's second mountain top finish on Sunday, attacking Felix Gall one kilometre from the line to take his second stage win of this year's Giro d'Italia.

Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) attacked what remained of the GC favourite's group just over 2km from the line, taking Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) with him, but the Austrian was unable to resist the Dane's move under the flamme rouge.

Vingegaard's team mate, Davide Piganzoli put in a remarkable ride to finish third, while the maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) was fifth and retains the overall lead, though with a reduced advantage of 2.24.

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) had seemed set to take the stage win after bridging to the day's breakaway and leading into the final 2.5km, but when his compatriot, Giulio Pelizzari, one of Red Bull-Bora hansgrohe's GC hopefuls, was dropped, both Visma-Lease a Bike and Decathlon CMA CGM reacted.

Ciccone was quickly brought back and it seemed Gall and Vingegaard would sprint for the win, but the Dane showed his superiority, attacking and instantly dropping the Austrian, to take his second mountain top victory of the race's opening week.

"We didn't want to pull for the stage win today," Vingegaard said. "We realised quite quickly that Decathlon wanted to go for the stage, and it's always nice with a win, something I'm super happy with. My team mates did a super good job and once the win was within victory [sic] we decided on the last climb to maybe try to go for it.

"Felix did a very strong attack when he attacked and luckily I was able to follow, and then in the end I tried myself and was able to take the win."

How it happened

After Saturday's punchy stage did little for the GC battle, Sunday's ninth day brought the potential of more changes in the fight for the overall victory.

The peloton headed north, up the Adriatic coast, to Cervia for a 184km stage west, into the Apennine mountains and the race's second mountain top finish at Corno alle Scala. The final 31km were split into two climbs, one an 11km long third category ascent, the other the first category ascent to the line, though up until those mountains the route was less challenging, the opening 156km largely flat.

Whether the final, first category climb would be tough enough to create any sort of GC selection had been a point of debate, the 10.8km ascent averaging 5.9% gradient, though, with the steepest, double digit slopes close to the top there were some opportunities for the bold.

Attacks came from the flag, and once again many teams were keen to place a rider up the road. Despite this eagerness, three riders were soon away, gaining half a minute before the counter attacks started again.

As they did on Saturday's stage, these moves included Jonathan Milan, the Lidl-Trek rider keen to score points at the intermediate sprint, but once again, wherever he went so did Paul Magnier, the Soudal Quick-Step rider wearing the maglia ciclmino.

Only with 40km done, did a real advantage grow, Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Martin Marcelusi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber), Tim Naberman (Picnic PostNL Raisin) Mattia Bais (Polti-VisitMalta) Sakarias Koller Løland (Uno-X Mobility), Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) and the Movistar pair of Lorenzo Milesi and Einer Rubio coming together to grind out a 50 second lead.

Another group briefly tried their luck, but, with their deficit more than one minute and growing fast, they sat up and drifted back to the peloton. For their part, the bunch allowed the breakaway's advantage out to around 2.40 where it settled, the Decathlon CMA CGM squad of Felix Gall, who started the day third overall, setting the pace.

Decathlon clearly had a plan for the stage, never allowing the breakaway to increase their lead, stringing the peloton out into one long line.

With the peloton's deficit at 2.13 with 74 km from the line, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) tried his luck with an attack on a small climb. Taking Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana) and Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché) with him, Ciccone took 40 seconds out of the peloton almost instantly, and just 15km later they'd reached the front of the race. Meanwhile, leading the peloton, Decathlon seemed to panic, bringing the breakaway to within 1.15, before letting go once more.

By the time the breakaway began arguing among themselves about who was shirking the work, the lead was 2.04. Then, as tempers settled so did the leaders' advantage, Decathlon CMA CGM continuing to lead, some 2.23 behind as the third category climb to Querciola began.

As the climb went on the breakaway began to fall apart, and by the time the leaders reached the top, 16.5km from the finish, only Ulissi, Ciccone, Aerts, Rubio and Milesi remained, though their lead was still relatively intact at 2.07. Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike squad led on the descent, taking 30 seconds out of the breakaway by the time Ciccone attacked, taking Rubio with him at the bottom of the final climb, 11.3km from the finish.

With Decathlon back on the front of the GC group, Ciccone and Rubio set about trying to win the stage, each dutifully taking their turns as the climb wore on. However, with 7.5km remaining Ciccone made a move, attacking and instantly dropping his rival. It seemed to be working and the stage win seemed within the Italian's grasp, even with the Visma-Lease a bike led bunch at 45 seconds.

But when Pelizzari began struggling the dynamic in the favourites' group changed, first Visma-Lease a Bike upping the pace then Gall making his attack.

While Monday is a rest day, the Giro returns on Tuesday for a 42km individual time trial, where Vingegaard will surely be hoping to close some of his 2.24 deficit to race leader Eulálio. "We are where we wanted to be obviously, I'm in a good situation at the moment for GC and so far everything is looking good," Vingegaard said.

RESULTS

GIRO D'ITALIA, STAGE 9, CERVIO > CORNO ALLE SCALE (184KM)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:20:21
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +12s
3. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +34s
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, s.t.
5. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +41s
6. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +46s
7. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, s.t.
8. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, s.t.
9. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora hansgrohe, +50s
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 9

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 38:49:44
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:24
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:59
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:32
5. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +4:43
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:00
7. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +5:01
8. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +5:03
9. Giulio Pelizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +5:15
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +5:20

Jhonathan Narváez won a wild eighth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday, attacking and riding the final 10km alone.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider attacked Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), the only other remaining breakaway rider, on the brutal closing slopes to the finish in Fermo, crossing the line 32 seconds ahead of the Norwegian champion.

Mikkel Bjerg, who had been in the day's three-man breakaway with team mate, did much of the work setting up the victory, but finished well down. Instead Leknnessund's team mate Martin Tjøtta took third place, 42 seconds down.

Having been dropped by the Ecuadorian, Leknessund refused the give up, bringing Narváez back on a short descent. However, Narváez increased his advantage on the 24% gradients inside the final 3km, before riding alone to the line on even more brutal slopes.

A late attack from overall leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) came to nothing, though he finished 26th, 1'53 behind the leader, and remains in the pink jersey. The only major change in the general classification is Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) moving into forth place, after being in one of the chasing groups and finishing sixth on the day.

It was a chaotic stage, which everyone expected to be won by an early breakaway, but that expectation threatened to kill any chance of a group of escapees taking the win, as every team wanted to be in the break and chased anyone who got away. Only half way through the 156km stage between Chieti and Fermo did a breakaway establish any kind of meaningful advantage.

The victory was Narváez's second of this year's Giro and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team's third, a remarkable feat considering they have been down to only five riders after the mass crash on stage 2.

"It was a nice stage for me," Narváez said after the race. "I think we played really good with my team mate, I think he was the man of the day, Mikkel Bjerg he is always working for the team.

"I think in the end it was about the legs , if you see the first part it was full head wind and riding the flat in the head wind was for me really hard. We never give up, we ride well, we ride smart and then we have the opportunity to ride for the stage."

How it happened

After Friday's punishing mountain top finish at Blockhaus reshaped the general classification, stage 8 presented a stage backloaded with short punchy climbs, and on the face of it at least, a day for a breakaway victory.

The 156km stage began in Chieti, dropping down to the Adriatic coast just north of Pescara, heading north, into a strong headwind, before turning inland and a final 59km which contained almost 1,400m on climbing. This started with two longer climbs and concluded with three muri, short, punchy, very steep climbs, including the ascent to the finish in Fermo.

The attacks began from the gun, a number of groups getting away, but after 10km only two men remained up the road, Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) and Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) leading by just over 20 seconds. The fight for the break was far from over though, and while their lead extended to more than 30 seconds the counter-attacking continued, with plenty of teams keen to place a rider in the group.

With 30km done and the average speed still above 50kph, Bettiol and Ganna's advantage was still only 35 seconds as the battle behind continued, no one able to make progress into the wind. With 50km done in the first 58 minutes, the leading duo were understandably tiring, their advantage down to 15 seconds and they were caught soon afterwards.

The games continued, with move after move getting a gap then being closed down until finally, with 78km to go and halfway through the stage, a group of eight, which had briefly led the stage, was caught and Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who had been in that group, countered, taking team mate Jhonathan Naváez with him. Simultaneously, behind them gaps opened up in the bunch causing a huge split in the peloton, disrupting the chase.

Pre-race favourite Jonas Vingegaard was caught behind that split, and while his Visma-Lease a Bike team worked to close the deficit, the leading duo were joined by Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), and they began to build a lead. By the time the peloton re-formed the leading trio leading had a 48 second advantage, holding off attempts to close them down.

When the leaders turned off the coast road to start the first of the classified climbs, Montefiore dell'Aso, with 59km to go, the peloton were well over a minute behind, while a group of 20 were in the gap. Though that group was almost caught by the the bunch, they persisted, with some from the peloton jumping across to make a chase group of 30 riders, of those Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) was the best placed on GC, 5.23 behind the maglia rosa.

At the top of the 9km climb, Narváez, Bjerg and Leknessund had maintained their lead on the chasing group who trailed by 55 seconds, the peloton at 1.48. That gap only increased on the descent and they began the Monterubbiano climb with their advantage at 51 seconds on Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step) who had escaped on the descent.

Garofoli was soon caught and from the splintering chase Javier Romo (Movistar) emerged, though he too was unable to get within 50 seconds of the leaders and was still 50 seconds behind the leaders as they began the unclassified climb towards the finish town of Fermo, from where they would ride a loop down to the coast and back up again.

After doing much of the work in the leading group, Bjerg took the bonus seconds at the Red Bull kilometre, immediately before the descent to the coast, with 24km to go, at which time Romo remained 50 seconds behind. When Narváez, Bjerg and Leknessund arrived at the coast with only 14km remaining, Romo's deficit was out to 1.29 and it seemed as though the leading trio would take the the win after all.

With 10km to go as the climb back to Fermo began, Bjerg made the smallest of attacks, and, the moment he was dropped, Narváez made his first move. Though he failed to drop Leknessund, another upping of the pace saw to the Norwegian, and Narváez ride to victory.

RESULTS

GIRO D'ITALIA, STAGE 8, CHIETI > FERMO (156KM)

1. Jhonathan Naváez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:27:26
2. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, a +32s
3. Martin Tjøtta (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +42s
4. Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS Astana, +44s
5. Lorenzo Milesi (Ita) Movistar, at s.t.
6. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +48s
7. Corbin Strong (NZL) NSN Cycling, +55s
8. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Movistar, at s.t.
9. Wout Poels (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets, +58s
10. Markel Beloki (Esp) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:00

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 8

1. Afonso Eulálio (Pro) Bahrain Victorious, in 34:28:42
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:15
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:34
4. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +4:18
5. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at 4:23
6. Giulio Pelizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at 4:28
7. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla, at 4:32
8. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, at 4:56
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, at 5:07
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, at 5:11

It was easy to assume that Jonas Vingegaard would walk this Giro d'Italia. After all, he is a man who has won two Tours de France and a Vuelta a España, while his biggest general classification rivals are largely considered to not have the same top level; there is no other GC hopeful present within the top-15 of the UCI rankings.

Cycling is not that simple. On the first summit finish of this year's race, on Blockhaus on stage seven, Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike might have won, but there was no knockout blow, no decisive time gap. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) rode his race, limited his losses after the inevitable attack by the Dane, and finished just 13 seconds behind.

After bonus seconds, he is 17 seconds in arrears to Vingegaard, while the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe pair of Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizzari sit 1:08 and 1:11 back from Vingegaard. The stage winner is also not in control of the pink jersey, with that belonging to Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious), 3:17 ahead.

"It was a really hard pace from the bottom from Visma," Gall said in a flash TV interview post-stage. "At first I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't follow Pellizzari and Jonas, but in the end it was good that I did my own pace."

Perhaps fittingly, the Austrian played a clever game on Blockhaus, the climb named after an emplacement built by Austrian Empire troops in the 19th century, when their country controlled parts of the Italian peninsula.

While Pellizzari tried to stick to Vingegaard's wheel immediately after he attacked with 5.5km to go, Gall rode at his own tempo, at a speed he knew he could keep up. Pellizzari, the young Italian, suffered as a result of trying to match Vingegaard, while Gall was able to close the gap somewhat, and keep the stage winner in sight at the finish.

"Felix is a very strong rider, so we knew he'd be up there close," Vingegaard, for his part, said. "He's a big rival and so he is a guy we have to worry about."

In truth, the 29-year-old Dane remains the overwhelming favourite for the Giro, despite not being decisively ahead in the race, as many expected him to be already at the race.

There are many big moments to come, including two particularly mountainous days on stages 19 and 20, in the Dolomites and Julian Alps. There is another summit finish on Sunday, and then also the small matter of the long time trial on Tuesday, a discipline that normally favours Vingegaard over his rivals. Things could look more as expected very quickly.

Gall is a solid GC rider, but has never finished higher than fifth at a Grand Tour, last year's Tour de France his best result to date. He remains the underdog, while Hindley and Pellizzari, Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) are not out of it completely, but have lost significant time Vingegaard that it might be race-losing.

"I'd say he's, for example, a much better time trialist than me for a start," Gall said of his rival.

"He's the best Grand Tour rider we currently have next to Tadej [Pogačar], so, for sure, I'm not thinking about how to beat him for now, I'm just happy with my performance."

However, Friday's stage offered a glimmer of hope that we might have a race on our hands, and that this Giro won't be a one-horse affair after all. That knockout blow hasn't landed, meaning we will go on for at least another couple of rounds.

Giro d'Italia favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) lived up to his billing on the first summit finish of the race, attacking to ride solo to the finish on the Blockhaus climb on stage seven.

He was still some way off taking the overall lead from Alfonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), but the Dane opened up significant gaps on some of his main contenders, including Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek).

The race was far from sewn up though, after this longest day of the race – a mammoth 244km. Closest competitor Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished a surprisingly close 13 seconds behind, and Giulio Pellizzari and his Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammate Jai Hindley around a minute back.

Afterwards Vingegaard said: "Today we just wanted to go for the win... my team-mates did an amazing job today and I'm just happy I could pay it off."

Asked whether attacking at 5.5km to go was the plan, he replied: "We kept it a bit more open to see when the moment was there. There was a lot of wind, and at moments a lot of headwind. It was a very tough climb.

"I'm definitely happy I could take back some time. And take some time on my opponents, that was a good day for us."

He described Gall as a big rival who needed watching: "For sure Felix Gall is a big rival to me," he said. "I knew it already before the race, he's a very strong guy that we really have to take into account."

Visma-Lease a Bike had been vocal about their desire to win today's stage, with ran from Vingegaard, and the team made its intentions clear almost as soon as the race hit the slopes of the Blockhaus, massing at the front alongside the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team.

Having dispatched the last of the day's break and after a brief Sepp Kuss turn, Vingegaard launched with 5.5km remaining. Young Italian talent Pellizzari managed to follow but a few digs from the Dane dispatched him a kilometre later. Meanwhile Gall was quietly following at a distance and actually managed to gain a handful of seconds on Vingegaard on the line, announcing himself as a key opponent.

How it happened

Today's stage was always going to be about the climbs in its second half and, more specifically, the summit finish on the Blockhaus. Measuring 13.6km long at a fiendish 8.4% average and with super-tough 14% ramps, it loomed over the rest of the stage, all the more ominous for the heavy skies above.

The race has already featured some tough climbing stages, but today felt like the flag-drop on the GC battle proper.

The Blockhaus was not the only climb on the stage – there were at least four solid ascents before the final mountain was reached. Only one of these, Roccaraso, was classified. A category-two. But there was very little flat across the entire second half.

The first half, though, was comparatively flat and, as expected, was characterised by an early break taking the lead. Less predictable was the presence within of sprinter Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), alongside four other breakaways: Nikolas Zukowsky (Pinarello Q36.5), Jardi Van Der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost), Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti VisitMalta) and Tim Naberman (Picnic PostNL).

After missing out on a chance to contest the win after being baulked by a crash in yesterday's final, Milan was no doubt there for the 12 points he gained by winning the intermediate sprint at Venafro, which saw him close the gap just a little to classification leader Paul Magnier.

As the race's second-heaviest rider at 84kg, there was no chance that Milan was going to be contesting in the hills and he was duly tailed off once the road began to rise.

The remaining quartet held on to a very healthy lead of at times more than six minutes, which only began to fall as the Blockhaus loomed.

Once on its slopes the distance took its toll in the break, which began to fracture, while behind the urgency in the bunch saw its advantage rapidly reduced as both Visma-Lease a Bike and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe massed on the front. A huge turn by Visma-Lease a Bike's Davide Piganzoli dispatched GC hopefuls Enric Mas (Movistar), Bernal and Gee-West.

At 6.5km to go, everything began to happen at once. The last of the breakaway was caught, Kuss hit the front, maglia rosa Eulalio was dropped and, in short order Vingegaard attacked.

Once he was alone the stage looked done and dusted, but a strong ride from Gall meant Vingegaard won't rest easy on the GC just yet.

Results

Giro d'Italia, stage 7: Formia > Blockhaus, 244km

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 244km in 6:09:15
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +13s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, 1:02
4. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, 1:05
5. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, at s.t.
6. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:29
7. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +1:40
8. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +1:42
9. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +1:44
10. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, at s.t.

General Classification after stage 7

1. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 30:59:23
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:17
3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +3:34
4. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:25
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +4:28
6. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, +4:32
7. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +4:56
8. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +4:57
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +5:07.
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +5:11

"I really can't understand it," lamented Jonathan Milan after yesterday's sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia stage. He was referring to the decision by organisers to place a 180-degree cobbled bend in sight of the line, on what was a bunch sprint stage.

They had prioritised drama, he suggested, over rider safety. And with a readily predictable crash on the bend in question, drama they certainly got.

We live in a cosseted world that is gradually designing out every physical challenge and every last risk. But there are a handful of sports still remaining that require participants to lay it all on the line – risk their wellbeing in the pursuit of glory. Bike racing is one of them. The risk-taking involved undoubtedly adds to the drama, with fans' hearts in mouths on a tricky descent that is raced hard, or a bunch sprint.

At yesterday's Giro d'Italia stage, one such bunch sprint went wrong – although thankfully not as wrong as it could have done. Several of the leading riders slid out on the bend, placed within 400m of the finish line. With a fine rain falling, it seemed almost inevitable.

As fortune had it, there were no major injuries, although it could easily have gone the other way. But some of the world's best sprinters missed out on their chance of victory – on one of perhaps four sprint days this Giro. Among those were Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), who salvaged third place, and former Giro points classification winner Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek.

His words, though delivered thoughtfully, were clearly born of frustration and disappointment. But he made a good point. On what was set up as a bunch sprint day, asking the riders to do a U-turn on pavé within sight of the line feels gratuitous.

If this had been a day in the hills or mountains, where riders could have reasonably been expected to finish in dribs and drabs, it would have been different. But anyone predicting that yesterday's ultra-flat stage between Paestum and Naples would have finished in anything but a full bunch charging towards the line could not have read the script.

This particular turn jeopardised not only the sprinters' chances to win in a race already light on opportunities for them, but also everybody's safety.

Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step), who negotiated the melee to take second place behind winning rider Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), questioned the Unibet Rose Rockets leading pair for getting on the power too early in the bend. Perhaps he has a point – half the battle as a pro rider is having the skill to negotiate tricky situations, after all.

But they weren't the only riders to fall and, in any case, asking riders not to pedal when the finish line is only 300m up the road seems a bit... unreasonable.

Everyone will have their opinion on this. For me, 'entertainment' for fans should not be placed above rider safety. Bike racing is already risky enough and will remain so – huge crashes can happen on straight, wide roads with just a touch of wheels. The last thing the riders need is route designers spicing things up even more. Let's keep a couple of things sacred: leave bunch sprint finish straights and tricky descents well alone.

Two men who lunged at the Giro d’Italia peloton during stage six have been identified and reported by the police, according to media reports in Italy.

The duo, said to be 19 and 20 years old, spectated Thursday's stage from a roundabout near San Vitaliano, with around 50km to go, where they dashed into the road and tried to touch the riders.

A third man filmed the incident. The footage has since been shared on social media and appears to show all three laughing.

A report by Italian outlet Rai on Thursday evening said the two men who rushed into the road were identified by the police following the incident, and reported to the public prosecutor’s office in Nola for causing danger during a sporting event. They are understood to still be at liberty.

If charged and found guilty, the men could receive a DASPO – a banning order from sporting events, which can also carry fines.

“I saw it all because Thomas Silva [XDS Astana, former race leader] was right in front of me, and he told them to go to hell,” said XDS Astana’s Alberto Bettiol, quoted in Gazetta dello Sport. “They don’t realise how fast we’re going… If we touch them, we’ll all get hurt.”

One of the men, wearing a white t-shirt and a fanny pack, appeared to slap the upper leg of a Soudal Quick-Step rider on his last of a sequence of lunges into the road. No riders crashed as a result of the behaviour.

The official Giro d’Italia account posted a warning to roadside spectators on X following the incident: “Respect the riders. Respect the race. Respect the Giro d’Italia.

“Fans, Tifosi. We love you on the roadside. We love your enthusiasm, we love that you chear on the riders, we love that you dress like flamingos.

“But there’s a line not to cross. Don’t be like this guy.”

XDS Astana’s Davide Ballerini went on to win Thursday’s stage, which finished on rain-dampened cobbles in Napoli. Asked about the incident after the stage, Ballerini said: “They didn’t realise what could happen, but I don’t think they wanted to rush into the peloton.

“I hope it's understood that if they come to watch and cheer us on, they're welcome, but there must be mutual respect."

After the bunch sprint was turned on its head at the end of stage six of the Giro d'Italia by a section of damp cobbles in Naples, the choice of finish was called out by Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

At least five riders slid out on the tight right-hander in sight of the line, including a well-placed Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) in second wheel and his lead-out man. Nearly all of the best-placed stage-win hopefuls either came down or were baulked, though Davide Ballerini made it through and sprinted ahead to an unexpected win.

Speaking afterwards, a disappointed Milan accused route organisers of prioritising "hype" over safety.

"Luckily I didn't crash, I was able to stand on my bike," he said, his tone characteristically thoughtful – and disappointed too – rather than reactive and angry. "But they crashed in front of me. It's not their fault, I mean we know it will be super slippery if it rains on these kind of cobbles.

"I really don't get why we have to try to find these complicated finishes," he said. "I really don't get it, you know. We could think it could rain and maybe to be safe, like some years ago, we could go just straight. But no, with two drops of water we get a huge mess, and I'm just a bit disappointed because I was in a good position, I was in good shape and feeling good.

"But we have to try to look for these things, no? For a bit of hype maybe, sometimes. I really don't get it."

Asked how he felt about being unable to compete for the win, he said: "It was painful. It's even more painful to see riders crashing in front of you, you know."

Twice a winner of the ciclamino points jersey on the Giro d'Italia, in 2023 and 2024, and yet to win a stage this year, the pressure is clearly on the rangy 25-year-old. He has come close this race with a second place behind Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) on stage three, but will no doubt rest easier once he has a '1st' next to his name.

Despite being only on stage six, there aren't many more flat opportunities for him to achieve that, with stage 15 to Milan being the next obvious chance, and the 21st stage in Rome being the second (and last).

Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) charged to victory on stage six of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday, after the sprint favourites slid out on a bend inside 400m to go in Napoli.

Unibet Rose Rockets led into the final corner, a U-turn on lightly rain-soaked cobbles, where their sprinter Dylan Groenewegen and his lead-out man Elmar Reinders crashed. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) were all caught up behind.

Ballerini emerged unscathed out of the melee and into the city's Piazza del Plebiscito, where he powered to his first stage win at the Giro, the Italian's home Grand Tour.

"Today was not on the plan," Ballerini said afterwards. "Today our sprinter was [Matteo] Malucelli – I was trying to do the maximum for him. But when we arrived on the last corner, I saw that the first two guys had a crash.

"I just exited from the corner, and I heard on the radio 'Go! Go! Go! To the finish! There is a gap!' I just started, and I was hoping the line would come really fast. I made it. I’m really happy.”

Jasper Stuyven placed second on the stage, ahead of his Soudal Quick-Step team-mate Paul Magnier, who came to a halt behind the fallen Groenewegen, but managed to recover quickly.

Groenewegen appeared uninjured after the finish, where he spoke to TNT Sports, and lamented his "bad luck".

"It was a bit slippery, I think," said the Dutchman, who crossed the line 158th. "We did an amazing job, and a crash can happen in a sprint."

Milan, a two-time Giro points classification winner still looking for a victory in this edition, was riding five places behind Groenewegen when the crash occurred. Though the Italian didn't fall to the ground himself, he unclipped from his pedals, skidded across the cobbles, and struck the rear wheel of Magnier.

Also speaking to TNT Sports, Milan criticised the course design in Napoli, which brought two hard turns in the last kilometre.

"I really don’t get why we have to try to find this complicated finish," the Lidl-Trek rider said. "For sure, we could think that it would rain, and maybe it could be safe to just go straight like some years ago [when the race finished in Napoli]. But no, with two drops of water, we get a huge mess."

In reference to the Rockets riders who crashed in front of him, he said: "It's not their fault."

The general classification remains unchanged at the Giro, with Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) continuing to lead by two minutes and 51 seconds ahead of stage five winner Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

Friday will bring the race's first summit finish: a 244km stage to Blockhaus in the Abruzzo Apennines.

Results

Giro d'Italia, stage six: Paestum > Napoli (144km)

1. Davide Ballerini (Ita) XDS Astana, in 3:19:30
2. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
3. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step
4. Jensen Plowright (Aus) Alpecin-Premier Tech
5. Ben Turner (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos
6. Alec Segaert (Bel) Bahrain Victorious
7. Luca Mozzato (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
8. Filippo Magli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 7 Saber
9. Enrico Zanoncello (Ita) Bardiani CSF 7 Saber
10. Casper van Uden (Ned) Picnic PostNL Raisin, all at same time

General classification after stage six

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 24:47:13
2. Igor Arrieta (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:51
3. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +3:34
4. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +3:39
5. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +5:17
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, + 6:12
7. Jan Christen (Sui) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +6:16
8. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling
9. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, both at same time
10. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6:18

The prize for the most hard-fought and perhaps least likely victory of the Giro d'Italia this year will surely go to the winner of stage five, Igor Arrieta.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider romped to the team's second win at the end of a very wet, very hilly 203km day to Potenza. Arrieta's win, which was the team's second in two days, came after a two-up breakaway that had been in turns celebratory, heart-breaking, and physically painful.

His partner, Portugal's Alfonso Eulálio of Bahrain Victorious, who more than once could have been almost sure of victory, ultimately had to make do with second place – though the maglia rosa must surely rank among the best consolation prizes available in bike racing.

After rain all day and on supremely slippy roads as they descended towards the finish, first Arrieta crashed, watching his partner disappear up the road with 13km to go. But seven kilometres later Eulálio came down and the race was back on – but far from over. Arrieta overcooked a wet bend with two kilometres left, which looked certain to have ended his day. But he managed to claw back his disadvantage to catch a hapless and exhausted Eulálio in slight of the line and then outsprint him.

Speaking after the race, a cold and emotional Arrieta told media:

"I don't know what to say. I'm really happy to achieve this victory. It means a lot for me because of the crash and the teammates that went home. The Giro is special for me.

When he crashed at 13km to go, his race was far from over in his mind, he said.

"I didn't think it was lost. I needed to try to the end. I was completely empty in the last kilometres and I know Eulálio is the same. We both deserved the victory but in the end I got it.

"When I lost him at two kilometres I thought it was not possible [to win], but I kept pushing and saw that he could not go faster than me. When I got his wheel it's like 'f***, maybe I can win'.

He added: "I was coming to [the Giro] help and to have some opportunities. Today was a good day, and in the end it was a perfect day. I want to say thank you to my girlfriend and my family, and also my grandad."

How it happened

Starting at Praia a Mare on Italy's south-western coast, stage five took the riders well inland to Potenza, 203km distant, over two distinct clusters of climbs – one near the beginning and one near the end.

With the first riders going clear over the early cat-three climb of Prestieri, a 13-rider break quickly built, including Arrieta and Eulálio, as well as Ben Turner (Netcompany-Ineos), Victor Campanaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), yesterday's stage winner Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and stage two winner Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana).

The gap grew steadily for much of the middle part of the race, reaching more than three minutes by the 125km mark, though falling to two minutes as the second-cat Monte Grande di Viggiana – the second and final classified climb of the day, though absolutely not the final climb – approached.

With 55km remaining and at the foot of the climb, Arrieta attacked from the break, drawing out a gap of a minute and more over the breakaway. He was joined shortly afterwards by Eulálio, and though they didn't know it, the stage was set.

The peloton behind might have been expected to make inroads on the pair over the climb. Instead, dishevelled and disinterested, they let them go. Two minutes became three and, with 35km to go, four; numbers that only kept rising. That, despite the incongruous sight of maglia rosa Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) riding on the front of a very reduced peloton, apparently in service of GC-focused team-mate Derek Gee-West, who was also present.

On the downhill approach to Potenza, fate – or was it the race itself? – began to tease Arrieta and Eulálio in turns with glory and heartbreak, only to turn the tables and start again. When Arrieta finally did catch his rival with 400m to go – and then outsprint him – both riders had given more than they imagined they would have to today. But they'd probably both say it was worth it.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026, stage 5: Praia a Mare > Potenza, 203km

1. Igor Arrieta (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 5:07:51
2. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2s
3. Guillermo Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS Astana, +51s
4. Lorenzo Milesi (Ita) Movistar, +1:29
5. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +1:30
6. Gianmarco Garofoli (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, at same time
7. Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jayco AlUla, +3:11
8. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +3:13
9. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +3:29
10. Ludovico Crescioli (Ita) Polti VisitMalta, +4:42

GC after stage 5

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 21:27:43
2. Igor Arrieta (Esp) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:51
3. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana, +3:34
4. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +3:39
5. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +5:17
6. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, + 6:12
7. Jan Christen (Sui) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +6:16
8. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor
9. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, both at same time
10. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6:18

Giulio Ciccone has raced the Giro d'Italia nine times. The 31-year-old Abruzzese has won three stages across those years, and has also worn a Grand Tour's leader's jersey before, yellow at the 2019 Tour de France, and been King of the Mountains in 2023. However, the Lidl-Trek rider has never quite managed to wear the pink jersey, to lead his home race.

That all changed on Tuesday's stage four, when, after 150 Giro stages, when, thanks to some canny bonus second poaching, Ciccone finally leads the Grand Tour. Visibly emotional on the podium, and in his TV interview, the Italian has achieved something special to him.

"The feeling is amazing," he said post-stage. "I always dreamed of this jersey since I was a kid. I started this sport dreaming to wear this jersey, and I think today I realised it. I was not expecting this today after many hard moments, especially last year with the crash. This is something really crazy."

Last year, Ciccone was forced out of the race ahead of stage 15, while he had a solid position in the top-10. At the time, he said he had "no words", such was his disappointment on. A year later, and those tears of disappointment have turned to tears of joy.

It was decided on bonus seconds: the man from Chieti took two seconds at the Red Bull KM, behind Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) and Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Then, when it came down to a reduced bunch sprint, he was there again, finishing third, ahead of other riders aiming to poach pink, only behind Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Orluis Aular (Movistar). That was the decisive four bonus seconds. He now leads by just four seconds from Christen.

Ciccone explained: "This morning when we did a meeting we had a plan, and our plan was 50:50, it was one of those stages where you didn't know if it would be a sprint or a reduced bunch like it was. My plan was to just take this jersey, take the seconds in the bonus sprint and in the finish. I finished third twice, enough to wear the jersey."

As for what is next, the race reaches his home region of Abruzzo on stage seven, on Friday, with the first proper GC day to Blockhaus. The dream would be to wear pink there, to perhaps even hold it.

"I think it will be super nice, but we still have to do the stage tomorrow and hard moments before we arrive there," Ciccone said. "It's a big dream, and why not? I feel good, we have a good team. We want to defend, and we want to go really far."

The dream might not be over just yet.

Jhonatan Narváez sprinted to victory on stage four of the Giro d'Italia from a reduced group in Cosenza on Tuesday, as Giulio Ciccone secured the pink jersey.

Narváez of UAE Team Emirates-XRG had the speed on the run-in to beat Orluis Aular (Movistar), as Lidl-Trek's Ciccone finished third and moved into the race lead because of bonus seconds.

Aular went off early, with 350m to go, giving Narváez the time to round him and win by a clear bike length on the line.

It marked a turnaround for UAE's fortunes in the Giro, coming days after they lost three riders in a mass crash on stage 2, including their GC hopeful Adam Yates.

There were still around 40 riders in the peloton come the finish, but that number had been thinned down brutally by the category-two climb of Cozzo Tunno, peaking around 45km from the finish, meaning none of the top-rate sprinters were able to contest victory.

It was Narváez's third stage victory at the Giro, and came months after he was seriously injured at the Tour Down Under, where he broke vertebrae.

"It's really big for me, this victory here, coming from three months training in Ecuador," Narváez said on TV post-race. "I want to send thank to my family, my wife, my team, they have been a great support this time. Obviously, this victory is also for my team-mates, they crashed on stage two, they've been working for a while to come here in good condition, and finally we take the victory today, but we were good on stage two too. I think we are happy now.

"Jan [Christen] is a great guy, he was trying to take the maglia rosa," he said of his team-mate, who sprinted to the Red Bull KM bonus seconds, and also launched a flier in the last couple of kilometres which came to nothing, but set his team-mate up. "He's a young guy, he needs to learn how to race. He did a great final, and in the end for me, it was just waiting for the sprint.

"I knew they [Movistar] worked so hard in the climb, also Ciccone was there. I think I took a really good corner, 700m to go, and in the end had the legs in the last straight."

The key point of the stage was the Cozzo Tunno climb, 14.4km at 5.9%, where Movistar put the pace on to distance all the pure sprinters in order to set themselves up best for the stage win. Among those dropped were pink jersey Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana), and winner of two stages already Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step).

Most of the riders aiming for general classification survived without worry, apart from Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) who dropped off the back of the peloton on the second-category climb. He made it back in before the finish, but his performance will give some pause for thought ahead of more significant climbing stages.

Results

Giro d'Italia 2026 stage four: Catanzaro > Cosenza (138km)

1. Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 3:08:46
2. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Ben Turner (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
5. Alessandro Pinarello (Ita) NSN Cycling
6. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious
7. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Intermarché
8. Diego Ulissi (Ita) XDS Astana
9. Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step
10. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-EasyPost, all at same time

General classification after stage four

1. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, in 16:18:51
2. Jan Christen (Sui) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +4s
3. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor
4. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, both at same time
5. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6s
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, at same time
7. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto Intermarché, +10s
8. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
9. Markel Beloki (Esp) EF Education-EasyPost
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) NSN Cycling, all at same time

The opening stages of the 2026 Giro d’Italia saw some big high-consequence crashes, with a number of the 184 starters failing to make it beyond Bulgaria and a high rate of attrition continuing in Italy.

The latest departures are EF Education–EasyPost riders Michael Valgren (winner of stage 17) and James Shaw, neither of whom started stage 19 of the race on Friday. "We have enormous respect for the Giro and will keep fighting all the way to Rome," claims a post from the team with the alien-themed jerseys, despite an open admission that the duo have been beamed up to concentrate on bigger things fast approaching on the calendar: "With Michael and James both essential to our goals this summer, we have made the decision [to withdraw them from the Giro] to prioritize their health, recovery, and preparation for the important block of racing ahead."

Canadian rider Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) has also withdrawn from the race, dropping out during stage 17 because he was suffering with the ongoing effects of a crash that happened on Sunday's stage to Milan.

German Jayco AlUla rider Pascal Ackermann, who was unable to start stage 16 on Tuesday morning (following a rest day on Monday), after apparently suffering from an gastrointestinal viral infection.

While sickness and crash-related injury has depleted several teams in this year's Giro, there was a dramatic withdrawal of a different kind on Sunday, when Bardiani-CSF-7 Saber rider Enrico Zanoncello was kicked out of the race for head butting Bob Donaldson (Jayco-AlUla) in the closing metres of Stage 15.

The action – described by the jury as 'deviation from the chosen line that endangers another rider (blow from the head)' – resulted in Donaldson hitting the deck. Italian Zanoncello later apologised, but he's been given his marching orders nonetheless.

The previous day, fellow Italian Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), retired with illness (acute pharyngotracheitis with fever) during stage 14, and stage 12 also saw two riders, Javier Romo (Movistar) and Sjoerd Bax (Pinarello-Q36.5) depart the race because of sickness.

A three-man crash on the penultimate descent ruined stage 11 for Filippo Ganna (Soudal–Quick-Step), Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto–Intermarché) and Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana), and Van Eetvelt, Lotto–Intermarché's lead rider, was left injured and deemed unfit to start stage 12, a major blow for the team who are now down to four riders.

Three other riders were also forced to throw the towel in on Wednesday, during stage 11, including Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana), the surprise winner of stage 6, who withdrew after crashing hard. Edward Planckaert from Alpecin-Premier Tech and Uno-X Mobility's Martin Tjøtta also took an early shower on Wednesday, reducing the field to 164 riders.

While stage 10 (the time trial day) and stage 9 on Sunday were crash free, British rider Jake Stewart (NSN), who had been suffering as a result of injuries pick up during that horror pile-up in stage 2, was forced to abandon the race.

The previous day, Pinarello-Q36.5's Fabio Christen crashed on stage 8 and immediately withdrew from the race.

Last week, Felix Engelhardt from Jayco AlUla, failed to start stage 6, while Giro debutant Timo de Jong from Picnic PostNL pulled out of the race during Stage 5, suffering from the effects of a crash that happened on Sunday (the final stage in Bulgaria), during which he hit the deck while taking a left corner with 8km left to go and aggravated a wrist injury he'd sustained at the GP Monseré.

British rider Josh Giddings, who got a late call-up to the Lotto-Intermarché squad after illness ripped through the Belgian team, was also forced to bail part way through Stage 5, suffering from lower back pain caused by that big crash during stage 2. Italian Samuele Battistella from EF Education-EasyPost failed to finish stage 5 too.

The Lotto Intermarché team is now severely depleted, having also lost both Arnaud De Lie (who was unable to finish stage 4) and Milan Menten (didn't start stage 5) – both floored by the manure malady believed to have been caused by bacteria from cow pats encountered during the Famenne Ardenne Classic in Belgium, just before the Giro.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Premier Tech retired from the race, with the two-time stage winner succumbing to injuries suffered on the stage one mass crash.

Ahead of stage four, Wilco Kelderman of Visma-Lease a Bike left the Giro, depriving Jonas Vingegaard of a key domestique in his bid to win the maglia rosa. Visma posted: "Unfortunately, Wilco Kelderman will not start stage 4 of the Giro d’Italia following his crash a couple of days ago, as he is still experiencing lingering effects from the crash."

Other early departees include one realistic GC contender, British rider Adam Yates, who might have given overwhelming Corsa Rosa favourite Vingegaard a run for his money.

Matteo Moschetti from Pinarello Q36.5 was the first rider to exit the race, after sustaining a concussion in a big crash in Burgas, on the final kilometre of stage 1 of the Giro. It was a huge pile-up, from which Paul Magnier of Soudal-Quick Step emerged victorious, but much worse was to come the next day.

UAE Emirates-XRG were the team worst hit by the calamitous crash that marred the second stage of the 2026 Giro, ultimately losing three riders as a result of the horrendous pile-up that happened 21km from the finish.

Having bounced back from a broken wrist caused by a collision with a kangaroo during the Tour Down Under in January (a race he still managed to won), Jay Vine suffered a broken elbow and concussion in the crash and the Australian was immediately withdrawn from the race. His teammate, Spanish rider Marc Soler, was also admitted to hospital with fractured pelvis.

In addition, Uno-X Mobility rider Ådne Holter and Santiago Buitrago from Bahrain Victorious were both forced to withdraw from the race as a result of the same crash, which happened on a slippery stretch of road shortly before the final climb to the Lyaskovets Monastery, and resulted in the race being temporarily neutralised while casualties were treated.

Somewhat controversially, UAE’s British GC hopeful Adam Yates was allowed to continue, despite looking as though he’d collided with a combine harvester, only to be withdrawn from the Giro on Sunday, before the start of stage 3, with what was described as ‘delayed concussive symptoms’.

Andrea Vendrame, a previous stage winner at the Giro, was also forced to retire from the race after stage two, with X-rays revealing the Jayco AlUla rider had suffed three lower back fractures in the crash.

Read more: Giro d'Italia 2026 route | Giro d'Italia 2026 start list | Giro d'Italia 2026 contenders

Riders who have abandoned the 2026 Giro

• Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello Q36.5) – DNF stage 1 after crashing
• Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) – DNF stage 2 after crashing
• Marc Soler (UAE Emirates-XRG) – DNF stage 2 after crashing
• Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility) – DNF stage 2 after crashing
• Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) – DNF stage 2 after crashing
• Adam Yates (UAE Emirates-XRG) – DNS stage 3 after crashing on stage 2
• Andrea Vendrame (Jayco AlUla) – DNS stage 3 after crashing on stage 2
• Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) – DNS stage 4 after crashing on stage 2
• Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – DNF stage 4 after crashing on stage 1
• Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarché) – DNF stage 4 after illness
• Milan Menten (Lotto-Intermarché) – DNS Stage 5 after illness
• Timo de Jong (Picnic PostNL) – DNF Stage 5 after crash
• Josh Giddings (Lotto Intermarché) – DNF Stage 5 after crashing on stage 2
• Samuele Battistella (EF Education-EasyPost) – DNF Stage 5
• Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla) – DNS Stage 6
• Jake Stewart (NSN) – DNF Stage 8 after crashing on stage 2
• Fabio Christen (Pinarello-Q36.5) – DNF Stage 8 after crashing
• Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) - DNF stage 11 after crashing
• Edward Planckaert (Alpecin - Premier Tech) DNF stage 11
• Martin Tjøtta (Uno-X Mobility) - DNF stage 11
• Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) DNS stage 12 after crashing on stage 11
• Sjoerd Bax (Pinarello-Q36.5) – DNF stage 12 because of illness
• Javier Romo (Movistar) – DNF stage 12 because of illness
• Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) – DNF stage 14 because of illness
• Enrico Zanoncello (Bardian-CSF-7 Saber) – Disqualified during stage 15
• Pascal Ackermann (Jayco AlUla) - DNS Stage 16 – because of illness
• Nickolas Zukowsky (Pinarello-Q36.5) - DNF stage 17, injured in crash on stage 15
• Michael Valgren (EF Education–EasyPost) - DNS stage 19, withdrawn by team
• James Shaw (EF Education–EasyPost) - DNS stage 19, withdrawn by team

Once a rider claims a Grand Tour leader's jersey, it's customary for them to be immediately kitted out in a matching colour scheme. The extent of this transformation is often extreme, with teams and sponsors providing everything from specially-painted bikes and helmets to sunglasses, bar tape, and even custom name stickers.

As the Giro d'Italia hits home soil after its foray into Bulgaria over the weekend, I thought it was about time to add a splash of pink, in honour of the first grand tour of the year. Check out 12 of our favourite Rosa-coloured items below, from bold statement pieces to more subtle nods.

One retailer going all in on pink is Competitive Cyclists - 20% off sale with Code: GIRO20, ends 15th May

Of course, pink isn't the only colour represented at the Giro d'Italia; you can find out what all the jersey colours represent in our handy guide, but if pink is a little bold for you, or just not your colour, you can always opt to honour the Giro with some ciclamino or purple, azzurra blue or, of course, white.

A large number of the products I have selected below are highly rated by our experts, for example, the MAAP x Quoc M3 Cycling Shoes, and the Lizard Skins DSP tape features as one of our best bar tapes. I can't leave without mentioning one of the best budget cycling helmets: the Specialized Align II MIPS, which remains one of the cheapest MIPS-equipped helmets on the market.

You can follow all the happenings at the Giro d'Italia right here at Cycling Weekly, where our team will be reporting on the day's events, providing in-depth analysis, and answering the important questions you all will have, like how do cyclists pee while riding?

Also, why not check out Off The Back, a new podcast brought to you by the Cycling Weekly team! Each week, we will bring you a bite-sized chunk of cycling to keep you up to date, and below is our bike Giro preview, where Adam, Simon and Tom discuss the route, the contenders, and, of course, give their predictions.

The first Grand Tour of the year has been a long time coming and now it is finally here it has been as eventful as ever. The Giro d'Italia has arrived. New stars have been crowned. Hot favourites have bared their teeth and their rivals have responded. And, unfortunately, there have also been incidents that both fans and riders would rather forget.

So far we have enjoyed the three stages of the Bulgarian Grande Partenza, with a Monday rest day followed by the resumption of proceedings back in Italy on Tuesday.

We take a look back at some of the race's most memorable moments and people from this first few days.

Magnier: a new French 'Paul' to conjure with

With the hype and the wins produced by Paul Seixas this year have come countless headlines referencing the success of a 'young French rider'. Seixas's countryman and namesake Paul Magnier must have been biding his time until the Giro, waiting to get a piece of the action. And he has done so with aplomb, having worn the first maglia rosa of the race and taking a brace of stages with it. He now leads the pints classification, ahead of some of the luminaries of the sprinting world, like Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

Magnier has won races before, but never at this level. After his second stage victory in Sofia, on Sunday's third stage, Magnier seemed bemused and happy in equal measure. "I have to say I feel really good and I beat the best sprinters in the world, so I will try to enjoy this moment and keep going like this with the team," he said.

It's unlikely we've seen the last of him in this race.

Adam Yates out as UAE Team Emirates-XRG woes continue

With the loss of Joāo Almeida and Richard Carapaz from the start list even before the race had begun, the roll of serious contenders for Jonas Vingegaard had been decimated before the action had started.

Following a devastating crash involving multiple riders on stage two, the list has been reduced even further with the retirement of Almeida's stablemate, Adam Yates. The Briton, who had taken over from Almeida as UAE Team Emirates-XRG's main GC hope, limped to the finish but showed "delayed concussive symptoms" according to the team, and did not start the next day.

Yates's retirement wasn't the last of UAE Team Emirates-XRG's woes – Jay Vine also retired with a broken elbow following the same crash, and Marc Soler suffered a pelvic fracture.

Jonas Vingegaard bares his teeth

Lacking any major climbs or time trials, the Grande Partenza in Bulgaria was not one for the GC contenders. Nevertheless that did not stop hot favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) from showing off some fine condition and asserting his dominance on stage two.

His attack on the final climb of the day – a cat-three up to Lyaskovets Monastery, not far from the finish – may have been at least in part an exercise in self-preservation on damp roads that had already claimed multiple crash victims and were clearly slippery. Riding out front alone on a descent is, after all, safer than being caught up in the wheels.

However, Vingegaard ended up taking his main rival Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) with him, as well as on-form Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarche), on near-race-winning move that was only caught in sight of the line. The Dane is clearly in form and ready to race.

Historic victory for Thomas Silva

The modern Giro d'Italia has diligently made itself one of the most cosmopolitan of stage races, with starts in Hungary, Albania and even Israel in recent years, as well as this season's Bulgaria. So the race will surely be pleased to add a brand new nationality to the list of riders who have won one of its stages.

Twenty-four-year-old Thomas Silva of Uruguay declared himself "speechless" after winning stage two. The XDS-Astana rider won the uphill sprint in Veliko Tarnovo at the end of what was probably the most memorable day so far – for both positive and negative reasons.

Team staff's 1,000km challenge

Giro d'Italia organiser RCS did rather well out of the Bulgaria Grande Partenza, having charged a reported €12.5 million fee, according to our colleagues at Cyclingnews. Likewise, Bulgaria tourism is probably set to enjoy a boost too. But what of riders and, especially, staff, as they make a major transfer back to Italy to continue the race.

The riders will fly, as you might expect. But most of the staff will be driving 1,000km from Sofia back to Cantanzaro in readiness for stage four on Tuesday. Not just that though. As reported in Cyclingnews, the riders will be expecting to go for their usual rest day spin and will require their bikes and equipment to be available for that at some point on Monday. That's 1,000km of driving in 24 hours – a feat that rivals what the riders do on their bikes each day.

Paul Magnier took the sprint win in Sofia at the end of stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia on Sunday, winning his second stage at his second attempt.

Wearing the cyclamen jersey of the points classification leader, the Soudal Quick Step rider came over the top of Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan, who opened up his sprint around 250m form the line, before they reached a stretch of cobbles which took them over the line. The Frenchman out-powered his Italian counterpart, edging him into second place, with Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet-Rose Rockets) taking third place.

Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana) retains the race leader's pink jersey after finishing safely in the bunch in 60th place.

The sprint finish was widely expected, but almost didn't happen, with the breakaway coming close to taking the day. Having escaped the moment the flag dropped at the start of the stage, the three-man group entered the Bulgarian capital's wide boulevards with their lead inside one minute. However, they were still leading by 15 seconds with 2km to go and threatened to steal the sprinters' thunder, though, in the end, they were finally caught with 500m to go.

Magnier's winning margin was not huge, as the Frenchman acknowledged in his post-race interview.

"I was not really sure to win the stage, to be honest. I celebrated and then I say I'm not sure, but in the end I won so I'm really happy," Magnier said.

"I have to say I feel really good and I beat the best sprinters in the world, so I will try to enjoy this moment and keep going like this with the team.

"It was the goal to go for a stage again and the team did an amazing job again, they controlled the day and then we had the time to really be in good position at 1k to go and this is what we did."

With the Giro continuing on Tuesday in southern Italy, Magnier is likely to have to wait until Thursday for his next chance for stage victory. Then the peloton will race from the Ancient Greek city of Paestum north to Naples.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sunday's third stage was the last of the Grande Partenza in Bulgaria, the peloton tackling a 175km course, heading west from Plovdiv to the country's capital, Sofia.

With 1,462m of vertical ascent, the stage was not too challenging, though the second category climb of Borovets Pass came with 71km to go. Though the classified part of the climb was only 9.2km at an average gradient of 5.3%, much of the preceding 40km was an uphill drag, making the day more difficult.

After 5.4km of neutral, the breakaway formed the moment the flag dropped, three riders escaping, including Diego Sevilla, in the break for the third consecutive day and hoping to consolidate his lead in the mountains classification. He was joined by his Polti-Visit Malta team mate, Alessandro Tonelli and Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani-CSF 7-Saber), the trio quickly building a lead.

With the stage expected to conclude in a bunch sprint, behind the break the XDS-Astana squad of stage two winner and overall leader, Thomas Silva called the bluff of the sprinters' squads, allowing the breakaway's lead to grow to more than five minutes. The message was received loud and clear and the fast men's teams were soon at the front bringing their deficit down and allowing it to settle around the 2.30 minute mark.

The breakaway did not compete for points at an intermediate sprint, Tarozzi crossing the line first, but Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) set out his stall, chipping off the front of the bunch to make the most of what points remained in his search for a third cyclamen jersey classification.

Having been in the break on the previous two days, Sevilla had won all the classified climbs on both and, sure enough, did the same on the Borovets Pass, consolidating his lead in the mountains classification, ensuring he'd wearing the maglia azzura when the race reaches Italian roads on Tuesday.

By the time the race reached the final 50km, and with the sprint teams still working on the front, the leaders' advantage was dropping, edging below one minute with 25km remaining. However, on the run towards the Red Bull kilometre intermediate sprint, 13km from the line, that gap increased and the three breakaway riders battled it out. Tarozzi took the maximum six bonus seconds, the peloton by then just 30 seconds behind.

As the race took on the huge, wide streets of Sofia inside the final 5km the sprint trains came together, but a valiant fight from the three breakaway riders saw then hold off the bunch until 500m to go, the Decathlon-CMA CGM team taking control before Milan finally launched his sprint.

The Giro takes a day off on Monday, the peloton travelling from Hungary to Italy for stage 4, a 138km stage between Cantanzaro and Cosenza, in the country's far south.

RESULTS

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal-QuickStep in 4:09:42
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Unibet-Rose Rockets
4. Madis Mihkels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Matteo Malucelli (Ita) XDS-Astana
6. Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
7. Pascal Ackerman (Ger) Jayco-AlUla
8. Davide Ballerini (Ita) XDS-Astana
9. Tobia Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon-CMA CGM
10. Enrico Zanoncello (Italian) Bardiani-CSF-7 Saber, all at same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 3

1. Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS-Astana in 13:10:05
2. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor, +4s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, same time
4. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6s
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, same time
6. Jan Christen (Swi) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +10s
7. Martin Tjøtta (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
8. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar
10. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché, all at same time

Adam Yates did not start Sunday's third stage of the Giro d'Italia, the British rider abandoning after crashing late on Saturday's second stage to Veliko Tarnavo.

Yates was one of three riders from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad to leave the race after a huge crash 21km from the line on Saturday, with Jay Vine and Mac Soler both failing to finish. Two others were unable to finish as well, Ådner Holter (UNO-X Mobility) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) also injured in the incident.

A battered Yates eventually finished the stage more than 13 minutes down. Last placed on the stage was Andrea Vendrame, the Italian crossing the line three minutes behind Yates, his Jayco-Alula team later announcing his withdrawal after examinations revealed three fractures in his lower back.

The incident occurred on a sweeping right hand bend, the rain making the road surface treacherous, with upwards of 20 riders going down, some of them colliding with the barrier. Before Yates restarted race coverage showed the 33-year-old Brit, whose twin brother, Simon won last year's Giro, with the left side of his face covered in blood.

"Unfortunately we were badly affected by the crash on stage 2 yesterday," read a statement on the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team's social media channels. "Jay Vine suffered a concussion and an elbow fracture. Marc Soler has a pelvic fracture. At this stage, neither should require surgery.

“Adam Yates suffered a heavy abrasions and a laceration to his left ear. He was initially assessed on site for concussion, and cleared to continue, but subsequently he has shown delayed concussive symptoms. He will not take the start of stage 3 today.

“All three are under observation of our medical staff and will travel home in the coming days to continue their recovery and rehab."

While all their riders started Sunday's stage, Lidl-Trek were also badly affected by the crash. Their GC leader, Derek Gee-West, was delayed by the incident, and while organisers had neutralised the race, they restarted it before the Canadian champion was able to reach the bunch and he eventually crossed the line 1.01 behind winner and new race leader, Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana).

The incident comes after another huge crash marred the closing metres of stage one on Friday.

XDS-Astana's Uruguayan Thomas Silva sprung a surprise to claim victory in stage two of the 2026 Giro d'Italia, winning a reduced bunch sprint in Veliko Tarnovo after a Jonas Vingegaard-led attack was caught in the final kilometre.

24-year-old Silva launched the sprint in the final 200 metres and looked to be tying up, but held on to become the first rider from the South American country ever to win a stage in a Grand Tour. Tudor's Florian Stork was second ahead of Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek.

Silva also moved into the pink jersey, with overnight leader Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) dropped, ahead of Stork and Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) who took bonus seconds earlier in the stage.

Vingegaard made a move on the final climb of the day, taking with him Giulio Pellizzarri (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché). The trio worked well together but were caught by the bunch in the final few hundred metres.

Earlier in the stage, a large crash forced the race organisers to temporarily neutralise the race. Dozens of riders were brought down and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was among those who abandoned the race. Vine's team-mate Adam Yates also came down in the fall and lost significant time.

"I'm delighted. This is only the second stage of my first Giro d'Italia, and I'm the winner. It was a bit unexpected. I'm speechless," Silva told media after the stage.

"I knew I came with a good shape, but I also knew that it's very hard to win a stage of a Grand Tour. Having won in the first few days will give us a lot of serenity. It was a hard final, but I've ridden at the front thanks to Christian Scaroni, who was very active."

"As for myself, I just had to keep calm and launch the sprint at the right time to conquer a huge win for myself. I have to say a big thanks to my team. For myself, this is the maximum I could hope for."

How it happened

The second prong of a trident of Bulgarian stages to begin the 2026 Giro d’Italia saw the peloton venture into the eastern edge of the Balkan mountain range, with three third category climbs on the menu and a tricky uphill finish in Veliko Tarnovo.

The stage began as it did in the opener, with two riders from Italian ProTeams heading up the road. Overnight mountain classification leader Diego Sevilla attacked again, this time joined by his Polti-Visit Malta team-mate Mirco Maestri. The pair stretched their lead out beyond five minutes and Sevilla extended his lead over the first two climbs.

The breakaway was neutralised ahead of the final hill, a 4km climb that finished with less than ten kilometres left. On the approach, there was a large crash in the peloton which took down Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) among others. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was one rider helped into the back of an ambulance with his race over. Yates would go on to lose more than ten minutes and drop out of contention for the pink jersey.

The peloton slowed, with around a third of the riders in the race either held up or on the ground. Shortly after, the race was neutralised with 20km to go given the severity of the crash and the number of medical vehicles available.

The race resumed with 18km to go with just a short distance to go to the Red Bull Kilometre, with six seconds on offer for any opportunists. Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) took full advantage and moved up the General Classification.

There were early attacks on the final climb, the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass, which had a maximum gradient of 14%. However, Davide Piganzoli kept things under control for Vingegaard with the peloton stretched out behind. Gee-West was losing time, as was pink jersey Magnier.

Vingegaard attacked with 600 metres of the climb to go with Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the wheel along with several others. The Dane attacked again at the top and was chased down by Giulio Pellizzarri (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché). Behind, the peloton had split into several groups as the two-time Tour de France winner was threatening to turn the stage into a General Classification battle.

The trio worked together on the descent with 9km left and took a 20-second lead over the chasing group containing other race favourites. They entered the finale together with the same gap as the road ramped up to 9% in places with stretches of cobblestones.

The chasers closed the gap going into the final kilometre, allowing Christen to attack over to the lead. Van Eetvelt made a dig but the quartet started to look at one another as the group behind closed in.

XDS-Astana led out the sprint with Thomas Silva stretching out for glory with 150 metres to go. The Uruguayan was able to hold off Stork and Ciccone to take an historic win.

Results

Giro d'Italia, Stage 2 Burgas > Veliko Tarnovo, 221.km

1. Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS-Astana in 5:39:25
2. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek
4. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS-Astana
5. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe
6. Matteo Sobrero (Ita) Lidl-Trek
7. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
8. Jan Christen (Swi) UAE Team Emirates-XRG
9. Martin Tjøtta (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor, all same time

General Classification after stage 2

1. Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS-Astana in 9:00:23
2. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor, +4s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, same time
4. Thymen Arensmen (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +6s
5. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, same time
6. Jan Christen (Swi) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +10s
7. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
8. Lennert van Eetvelt (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché
9. Martin Tjøtta (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Darren Rafferty (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, all same time

Jonas Vingegaard capped a dominant Giro d’Italia campaign with his fifth stage victory of the race as he set-up a near certain pink jersey win in tomorrow’s final stage.

The Dane put over a minute into his rivals and now leads second place Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 5.22 in the GC.

Much of the days racing was centred around the podium and top ten places with Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) trying to snatch fourth place from Thymen Arensmen (Netcompany Ineos) and Davide Piganzoli (Visma-Lease A bike) trying to distance Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) and so claim the white jersey.

None of them were successful and a stalemate prevailed.

Elsewhere, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) secured the king of the mountains jersey for his team, which has failed to win a stage so far and will try for one last time tomorrow with sprinter Jonathan Milan.

Giro d’Italia 2026 stage 20 report

What do the Giro d'Italia jerseys mean?

Giro d'Italia 2026 route analysis

Complete Giro d'Italia 2026 start list

Giro d’Italia 2026, Stage 20: Gemona del Friuli 1976-2026 > Piancavallo (200km)

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 5:03.55
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +1.15
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe,
4. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, all at same time
5. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +1.19
6. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +1.25
7. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +2.03
8. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +2.13
9. Michale Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling
10. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, all at same time

Giro d'Italia 2026 general classification after stage 20

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 80:17.01
2. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +5.22
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +6.25
4. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Netcompany-Ineos, +7.02
5. Derek Gee-West (Can) Lidl-Trek, +7.56
5. Alfonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, +9.39
7. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, +10.13
8. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +10.52
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +11.24
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Netcompany-Ineos, +12.54

Giro d'Italia 2026 points classification after stage 20

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, 195pts
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, 103pts
3. Guillermo Thomas Silva (Uru) XDS-Astana, 94pts
4. Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, 87pts
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease A Bike, 81pts

Giro d'Italia 2026 mountains classification after stage 20

1. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek, 277pts
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, 266pts
3. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, 164pts
4. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, 124pts
5. Jardi van der Lee (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost, 108pts

Giro d'Italia 2026 youth classification after stage 20

1. Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious, in 80:26.40
2. Davide Piganzoli (Ita) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1.13
3. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +5.33
4. Johannes Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +24.47
5. Igor Arrieta (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +46.17

Giro d'Italia 2026 teams classification after stage 17

1. Visma-Lease a Bike, in 241:25:11
2. Netcompany-Ineos, +40.07
3. Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +48.27

A mass pile-up with 600m to go marred the bunch sprint at the end of stage one of the Giro d'Italia on Friday.

Only 11 riders contested the finish in Burgas, Bulgaria, where Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quick Step) won the stage and the race's first pink jersey.

The crash came as the road narrowed towards the finish line, with bunch speeds approaching 60kph. Around 15 riders were involved in the pile-up, which stretched the width of the road and brought the peloton behind to a halt.

Uno-X's Erlend Blikra told TNT Sports afterwards that he was the first rider to fall. "I just clipped my front wheel," he said. "I don't know if it was anybody's mistake.

"I have a lot of wounds on my back, so that's not great on the first day. It's going to be some long weeks now not being able to sleep like I want to.

"It was really easy the whole day, so I think everybody was super fresh in the end, and that just makes it more hectic."

It is uncertain if any riders were seriously injured in the crash. Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) was pictured in discomfort as he finished the stage; however his team later confirmed he had "no urgent issues".

Likewise, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) crossed the line with road rash and a ripped skinsuit, but was found to "seem okay" after an initial team medical check.

There will be no time losses because of the crash. UCI rules stipulate that any riders affected by a crash in the final 3km of a stage are granted the same time as the stage winner.

Also speaking to TNT Sports after the finish line, Unibet Rose Rockets rider Tomáš Kopecký said: "Of course we knew before that it was going to be a really hectic final.... With the final k[ilometre] getting narrower, everyone was basically drag racing towards the final k."

This article will be updated as teams issue injury statements.

Paul Magnier stormed to victory on stage one of the Giro d'Italia in Nessebar, Bulgaria, on Friday, winning from a reduced group after a mass crash in the final kilometre. As a result, the Frenchman will take the first pink jersey.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider timed his sprint perfectly to round Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) in the closing metres. Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling) finished third in a small group of around just 10 riders. It is Magnier's first Grand Tour stage win, and first WorldTour victory of the year. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), the sprint favourite, finished fourth.

The run-in was dominated by a serious crash, which took out contenders including Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets). However, all riders held up by the incident will finish on the same time, due to it happening in the final kilometres. The crash blocked the road, meaning anyone not in the front dozen riders were unable to compete in the sprint.

"I'm so proud of the team and also my performance," Magnier said post-stage. "I was already happy to be at the start of the Giro with nice shape and a special jersey from Castelli, and now I can change it for the pink jersey. I'm so happy to be honest.

"It was really hectic in the final because it was a pretty easy day so everybody was really fresh. Then I was in a really good position, we knew the narrow road in the final would be tricky, so we tried to get in a good position. Then in the final, Jasper [Stuyven] and Dries [Van Gestel] did an amazing job and I could finish it off, so I'm super proud."

"There are a lot of sprinters here at the start, and it was the first time that I could sprint against these big sprinters, and I'm super happy I can beat them with a team performance," he continued.

"I have some nice memories already with the pink jersey at the Giro Next Gen [the under-23 race] and now I think I will enjoy it too to enjoy it at the Giro d'Italia."

The day to the final kilometres had been relatively quiet, with a two-man breakaway of Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti VisitMalta) and Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), up the road for most of it. They escaped with 137km to go, and were only caught with 23km to the finish. In between, Sevilla won both mountains classification bonus point, on the fourth-category Cape Agalina, while Tarozzi won the intermediate sprint and the Red Bull KM too.

Soudal Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek and NSN Cycling were all very visible inside the final 5km, but the finish was changed by the crash with 600m to go. Lidl-Trek, Soudal Quick-Step and Decathlon CMA CGM were the only teams left with more than one rider in the final group. Despite a late push by Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek), it came down to Lund Andresen against Magnier, with the latter triumphing.

"Honestly, if it had been anyone other than Paul Magnier in my wheel, I think I would have won," Lund Andresen, who finished second, said. "That’s why I’m both proud and disappointed at the same time. Today was a huge opportunity to make history and wear the pink jersey, so finishing second hurts a little more. There will be other opportunities, we will try everything to go for a win."

Results

Giro d’Italia 2026, stage one: Nessebar > Burgas (147km)

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:21:08
2. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon CMA CGM
3. Ethan Vernon (GBr) NSN Cycling
4. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
5. Madis Mikhels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost
6. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti VisitMalta
7. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Jayco AlUla
8. Tord Gudmestad (Nor) Decathlon CMA CGM
9. Max Walscheid (Ger) Lidl-Trek
10. Dries Van Gestel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:20:58
2. Tobias Lund Andresen (Den) Decathlon CMA CGM, +4s
3. Manuel Tarozzi (Ita) Polti VisitMalta, at same time
4. Ethan Vernon (GBr) NSN Cycling, +6s
5. Diego Pablo Sevilla (Esp) Polti VisitMalta, at same time
6. António Morgado (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +8s
7. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +10s
8. Madis Mikhels (Est) EF Education-EasyPost
9. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti VisitMalta
10. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Jayco AlUla, all at same time

Grand Tour season is upon us once more. Last year, as far as the GC contests were concerned, these three races were dominated by the two super-teams - UAE Team Emirates XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike - who occupied the two top spots at each of the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España. And after a spate of dropouts, it’s Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard who enters this one the resounding pink jersey favourite.

However, the start list of the 2026 Giro still shows stacked field where even the smaller teams and wildcard entries have stars capable of igniting the race. The day-by-day battle for stage wins will be hotly contested, with no shortage of challengers.

Visma-Lease a Bike

• Country: Netherlands
• 2025 Giro: 1st overall, Simon Yates
• Team leader: Jonas Vingegaard
• Team boss: Richard Plugge

Of the last five Grand Tours that haven’t featured Tadej Pogačar, Visma-Lease a Bike have won four – including Simon Yates’s thrilling last-minute coup at last year’s Giro. This team would be the dons of Grand Tour racing were it not for their Slovenian nemesis. They’ll be thankful, then, that Pogačar is sitting this one out, making their man Jonas Vingegaard the overwhelming favourite as he makes his Giro debut.

Embarking on an ambitious Giro-Tour double, Vingegaard has said that the plan for him is to steadily improve as the season goes on, before peaking in July. Given the way he has started 2026, with crushing overall victories at both Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya, either he is going to bring sublime form to the Giro and be even better come the Tour, or is in danger of peaking too soon.

The Dane faces a tricky balancing act: he wants to win, of course, but not by expending too much energy ahead of the Tour. His Visma-Lease a Bike team don’t want to stretch their resources too thin, and so will be resting Wout Van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson. That said, Vingegaard will have climbing domestique par excellence Sepp Kuss to support him in the mountains.

Lidl-Trek

• Country: Germany
• 2025 Giro: 4 stage wins by Mads Pedersen; 1st, stage 10, Daan Hoole; 1st, stage 15, Carlos Verona
• Team leader: Jonathan Milan
• Team boss: Luca Guercilena

A repeat of last year’s astounding six-stage haul is a big ask, but Lidl-Trek have the talent to set the Giro alight again. There’s a shift in personnel, with Jonathan Milan replacing Mads Pedersen, and therefore also a shift in approach away from Pedersen’s hyperactive pursuit of points every day and towards a sharper focus on the sprint stage. As a twotime maglia ciclamino winner, Milan will also strive to repeat Pedersen’s victory in that classification.

In fact, Lidl-Trek could compete for all three of the main jerseys, with 2019 King of the Mountains Giulio Ciccone a candidate for that competition, and Derek Gee-West the pink jersey if he shows the form that saw him place fourth overall last year.

Netcompany-Ineos – Great Britain

• Country: Great Britain
• 2025 Giro: 7th overall, Egan Bernal
• Team leaders: Thymen Arensman, Egan Bernal
• Team boss: Dave Brailsford

Ineos Grenadiers used to be so good at the Giro d’Italia. They won the pink jersey here three times in four years between 2018 and 2021 with Chris Froome, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Egan Bernal, and even as their Tour de France form slipped, they continued to make the podium. Last year, when Bernal was their highest finisher, in seventh overall, was their first time off the podium this decade, reflecting a transition away from racing for GC and towards aggressive tactics and chasing stage wins.

How will the newly minted Netcompany-Ineos approach this year’s race? It looks like a two-pronged strategy led by previous winner Egan Bernal and double Tour stage winner Thymen Arensman. Both are capable of a GC top 10, as well as stage wins. Australian Jack Haig will back them up in the mountains. The rest of the team looks strong, with Filippo Ganna, Connor Swift and Ben Turner all experienced bunch engines, ready to shepherd the leaders around the peloton. The Giro represents a rebirth for the team, with added impetus and a bigger budget. It’s too soon to see any benefits from that, but showing intent will be key.

Decathlon CMA CGM

• Country: France
• 2025 Giro: 1st, stage 19, Nicolas Prodhomme
• Team leader: Felix Gall
• Team boss: Dominique Serieys

After riding to an impressive fifth on GC at last year’s Tour de France, Austria’s Felix Gall will ride the Giro for the first time since 2022. That edition saw him place 50th – a record he is almost certain to beat this time round. Gall isn’t the only interesting GC prospect on the Decathlon roster, but superstar youngster Paul Seixas sits this one out – in order to concentrate on the Tour de France as we've just learned. Gall will be joined in Italy by veteran rouleur Oliver Naesen and helped on the climbs by Gregor Mühlberger. Covering all bases, the team will also field a sprinter in Tobias Lund Andresen, who could vie for stage wins.

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

• Country: Germany
• 2025 Giro: 1st, stage 8, Nico Denz
• Team leader: Giulio Pellizzari
• Team boss: Ralph Denk

So stacked is Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s squad since their title sponsor’s investment that – even in the absence of former Giro winner Primož Roglič, rising star Florian Lipowitz and marquee signing Remco Evenepoel – they have multiple options for the GC. The strongest, in terms of form, is 22-year-old Giulio Pellizzari, who has continued to improve since fi nishing sixth overall at last year’s Giro. He was third at Tirreno-Adriatico, then won the Tour of the Alps.

In terms of Grand Tour pedigree, however, the man who won them the 2022 Giro, Jai Hindley, stands out; his lack of form going into the race shouldn’t be too much of a worry, remembering how the shrewd Australian peaked from similarly underwhelming form in time for his previous Giro success.

And as a wildcard option there is Aleksandr Vlasov who, though not at his best for a while now, still has great talent. Whoever they end up backing, the team won’t want a repeat of last year, when leaders Roglič and Hindley both crashed out of contention in the first week. With no standout sprinting option, aside from Danny Van Poppel, they’re going all-in for a pink jersey challenge.

EF Education-EasyPost

• Country: USA
• 2025 Giro: 3rd overall, Richard Carapaz
• Team leader: Alexander Cepeda
• Team boss: Jonathan Vaughters

Nine days before the start in Bulgaria, Richard Carapaz became the umpteenth GC contender to pull out of the Giro. The Ecuadorean took longer than expected to recover from an operation to remove a perineal cyst on his lower spine after the Volta a Catalunya in late March. It left the American team without an obvious leader, but perhaps opened the door to other opportunities.

While Carapaz could have challenged for the podium – he was third last year – it’s equally true that, at 32, his best years might be behind him. Instead, Michael Valgren, James Shaw, Sean Quinn and others will now be tasked with getting into breaks, getting noticed and trying to nab a stage win.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

• Country: (UAE)
• 2025 Giro: 2nd overall, Isaac del Toro
• Team leader: Adam Yates
• Team boss: Mauro Gianetti

There’s no stopping UAE Team Emirates-XRG when Tadej Pogačar is at the helm. But in Grand Tours where the main man is missing, they can resemble a rag-tag crew of uber-talented but incohesive riders, held back by internal rivalry and questionable tactics. That was the case at last year’s Giro, when Isaac del Toro overcame Juan Ayuso in a tense leadership struggle, only to throw away the pink jersey at the last hurdle through the disastrous tactical call not to chase Simon Yates on the climactic Colle delle Finestre mountains.

The plan this year was for Portugal’s João Almeida to lead the super-squad, but that fell down two weeks before the start when the Portuguese rider pulled out, citing an illness that began at March’s Volta a Catalunya – a race in which he finished a disappointed 38th on GC.

This leaves a talented, if a little rudderless team on the startlist. In Adam Yates, Jhonatan Narváez and Jay Vine they have a talented team but not an all-dominating one that is going to take the race by the scruff of the neck as Del Toro did last year and Pogačar does every time he pins a number on. Elsewhere, Marc Soler or Vine could poach a stage win for the team.

Soudal Quick-Step

• Country: Belgium
• 2025 Giro: 19th overall, James Knox
• Team leader: Paul Magnier
• Team boss: Jurgen Foré

Now the Remco Evenepoel experiment has ended, the mercurial Mikel Landa was due to lead the Belgian team. Unfortunately, the Spaniard was ruled out the same day as Almeida due to a small fracture in his pelvis. This leaves the Belgian squad scrapping for stage wins, or time in the break.

They have some perfectly good riders in Paul Magnier, Jasper Stuyven and Filippo Zanna, but will the motivation be there? Without team boss Patrick Lefevere bellowing in their ear as in days past, and with Specialized cutting its ties at the end of the season, this feels like a make or break time for one of the most revered teams in pro cycling.

Bahrain Victorious

• Country: Bahrain
• 2025 Giro: 5th overall, Damiano Caruso
• Team leader: Damiano Caruso
• Team boss: Milan Eržen

Bahrain Victorious’s record at the Giro is one of commendable consistency, but also gradual decline. In their nine appearances here since debuting in 2017, they’ve never failed to place a rider in the top five. Since Damiano Caruso’s runner-up finish in 2021, though, they have drifted further and further away from the top spot.

Caruso is arguably the most underrated Grand Tour contender in the peloton, his unglamorous style belying a steely dependability, but can the team really depend on the Italian for their GC bid again now that he’s turned 38? Santiago Buitrago is another option, but is perhaps a better puncheur than GC contender, having won stages here but never having finished higher than 10th at a Grand Tour.

Jayco-AlUla

• Country: Australia
• 2025 Giro: 1st stage 8, Luke Plapp; 1st stage 20, Chris Harper
• Team leader: Ben O’Connor
• Team boss: Brent Copeland

Back when Simon Yates led the team, the Giro d’Italia was a white whale for Jayco-AlUla. It was a race they relentlessly pursued but fell short of winning. They switched successfully to targeting stage wins at last year’s edition, landing one in the Apennines and another in the Alps.

Perhaps spurred on by watching Yates finally win it last year while riding for a different team, they are once again set on overall glory and will be targeting the pink jersey. This time Ben O’Connor takes the reins as GC leader, hoping to bounce back from a frustrating 2025. He had a slow start to the season, but tends to peak at Grand Tours, and the long climbs of the Giro are his happy place.

Alpecin-Premier Tech

• Country: Belgium
• 2025 Giro: 1st, stage 6, Kaden Groves
• Team leader: Kaden Groves
• Team boss: Philip Roodhooft

Once again Alpecin-Premier Tech’s Giro tilt will be based around Kaden Groves, the sprinter who has taken two wins in the Italian tour since 2023. The Aussie lacks the raw speed of the quickest sprinters but excels on tougher terrain and should be in contention to win the points classification, having done so twice at the Vuelta.

Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber

• Country: Italy
• 2025 Giro: 1st, Breakaway Classification, Manuele Tarozzi
• Team leader: Manuele Tarozzi
• Team boss: Roberto Reverberi

This will be the second-tier team’s 44th Giro. Over the years, they have nurtured many an Italian talent, with Domenico Pozzovivo, Sonny Colbrelli, Giulio Ciccone and Giulio Pellizzari all making their breakthroughs here. They will animate the breakaways, for sure, but might also showcase the latest major local talent.

Groupama-FDJ United

• Country: France
• 2025 Giro: 4th, stage 13, Rémy Rochas
• Team leader: TBC
• Team boss: Thierry Cornec

Groupama-FDJ United have enjoyed, by French standards, a reasonable amount of success in past Giro editions. But former stars Arnaud Démare (eight stage wins) and Thibaut Pinot (fourth overall 2017, fifth 2023) have long departed, and the squad now lacks the roster to do much more than chase breakaways.

Lotto Intermarché

• Country: Belgium
• 2025 Giro: N/A
• Team leader: Lennert Van Eetvelt
• Team boss: Stéphane Heulot

Returning to the Giro for the first time since 2022, Lotto’s resources are still stretched thin by the requirement to ride all the Grand Tours, despite their merger with Intermarché-Wanty. Hope lies in 24-year-old Lennert Van Eetvelt, a talented climber with Grand Tour potential.

Movistar

• Country: Spain
• 2025 Giro: 8th overall, Einer Rubio
• Team leader: Enric Mas
• Team boss: Eusebio Unzué

There was a time when Movistar were one of the Giro’s patrons, winning in both 2014 (with Nairo Quintana) and 2019 (Richard Carapaz) and never missing the top four in the editions in between. That’s no longer the case. Their best hope lies in Giro debutant Enric Mas, who could push for a podium, at best.

NSN Cycling

• Country: Switzerland
• 2025 Giro: 4th overall, Derek Gee-West
• Team leader: Ethan Vernon
• Team boss: Kjell Carlström

NSN must forge a new path without the departed Derek Gee-West, their star from both the 2023 Giro (when he won the Combativity Award) and 2025 (when he finished fourth overall). Step forward sprinter Ethan Vernon, whose form this year suggests he could nab a stage win.

Pinarello-Q36.5

• Country: Switzerland
• 2025 Giro: 16th overall, Tom Pidcock
• Team leader: Chris Harper
• Team boss: Doug Ryder

The team’s decision to target the GC with Tom Pidcock last year saw him end up down in 16th, and the team winless. With Pidcock absent this time – he’s doing the Tour rather than the Giro – the focus will likely revert to stage-hunting.

Picnic PostNL

• Country: Netherlands
• 2025 Giro: 1st stage four, Casper van Uden
• Team leader: Casper van Uden
• Team boss: Iwan Spekenbrink

The retirement of Romain Bardet has made Picnic-PostNL even more dependent on youth, and a lean opening to 2026 has left them desperate for breakthroughs. With GC hope Max Poole out, the likes of Timo de Jong and Frank Van Den Broek will be tasked with getting into moves and avoiding anonymity.

Polti-VisitMalta

• Country: Italy
• 2025 Giro: Second, stage 18, Mirco Maestri
• Team leader: Mirco Maestri
• Team boss: Francisco Javier Contador

Politi-VisitMalta’s staff may include two-time Giro winners Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador, but their aims here will be modest, targeting breakaways to chase what would be a third stage win here since their debut in 2021.

XDS Astana

• Country: Kazakhstan
• 2025 Giro: 1st, Mountains Classification, Lorenzo Fortunato; 1st, stage 16, Christian Scaroni
• Team leader: Alberto Bettiol
• Team boss: Alexander Vinokourov

Ten years have passed since Vincenzo Nibali staged a remarkable comeback in the fi nal week to win the 2016 Giro d’Italia, a result that remains the last time XDS Astana won a Grand Tour. These days, they prioritise stage wins over the GC, and in that sense remain a threat on parcours that suit them.

Though Kazakh by registration, the line-up is largely Italian in personnel, and is full of talented stagehunters extra motivated to succeed in their home race. Through Christian Scaroni, Alberto Bettiol and veteran Diego Ulissi in the punchy stages, and Davide Ballerini in the sprints, they can be in contention for wins in all terrain.

Unibet Rose Rockets

• Country: France
• 2025 Giro: N/A
• Team leader: Dylan Groenewegen
• Team boss: Josse Wester

The prolific early season form of Dylan Groenewegen has given these wildcard Grand Tour debutants reason to get excited. Even from poor form the Dutchman tends to come good for at least one sprint win, as he has in five of his last eight Grand Tours. And one win would be enough to make their Giro a resounding success.

Tudor Pro Cycling

• Country: Switzerland
• 2025 Giro: 10th overall, Michael Storer
• Team leader: Michael Storer
• Team boss: Raphael Meyer

This wildcard team has finished 10th two years in a row thanks to Michael Storer, whose record suggests he is capable of even more. Marc Hirschi hopes the Giro will be a happier hunting ground than he’s found the Tour in recent years as he chases stage wins.

Uno-X Mobility

• Country: Norway
• 2025 Giro: n/a
• Team leader: Johannes Kulset
• Team boss: Thor Hushovd

Obliged to ride the Giro, as new members of the WorldTour, will Uno-X Mobility’s resources be stretched too thin? With stars Tobias Halland Johannessen and Jonas Abrahamsen sticking to the Tour, it’s up to others, including 21-year-old top-10 hopeful Johannes Kulset, to step up.