Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike reigned supreme on the final mountain stage of the 2026 Giro d'Italia, carefully managing the breakaway, and setting up an attack on the second time up the gruelling Piancavallo (Cat.1; 14.5 km at 7.8%). The maglia rosa went clear 11 km from the summit, a greater distance from the line than on any other stage thus far, and won by a minute 15 seconds over his rivals.
Felix Gall had held on to Vingegaard for maybe a hundred metres when the Dane attacked, but soon dropped away, and after about 5 km of chasing alone, he was joined by Derek Gee-West and Jai Hindley, who'd dispatched a struggling Thymen Arensman a few kilometres earlier. However, Arensman had luxury domestique Egan Bernal for company, and the Colombian managed to drag his Dutch teammate back into the fight in the last 3 km. Bernal led the quintet into the last few hundred metres before Hindley launched, only for Gall to pass him before the line, finishing in GC podium order.
A little further down the mountain, a duel unfolded for the white jersey. Afonso Eulálio had a smidge over a minute on Davide Piganzoli at the start of the day, and while Eulálio has been the Giro's foremost revelation, Piganzoli has seemed to be getting better and better with each passing stage – predominantly working for Vingegaard, but with an eye on his own classification too. However, the Italian struggled on the Piancavallo climb, and, sensing weakness, Eulálio pounced, choosing an offensive approach to his maglia bianca defence. The Portuguese talent finished seventh on the stage, 10 seconds ahead of Piganzoli, confirming a visit to the podium in Rome to be officially crowned best young rider.
[race_result id=13 stage_id=89985 count=10 gc=0 year=2026]
[race_result id=13 stage_id=89985 count=10 gc=10 year=2026]
Quotes of the day
I’m a cyclist. I like to win; I want to win as many races as possible. We decided to go for it again today. Today was the last day, in the mountains at least, so yeah, today everything would be decided, so we decide to go all in for the stage. The boys did amazing again today. I had an amazing day also. To now win five stages and to have a solid lead going into tomorrow is special for me.”
– Vingegaard at the finish
Physically, maybe I was just a little bit better than usual. The other circumstances were also in my favour. We had no bad luck, no crash, more or less no sickness. It was pretty much perfect, I would say.”
– Gall said of his runner-up finish on GC
It has been a while since I achieved a result like this in a Grand Tour. To be able to fight for a podium spot again feels amazing. Especially after last year, when I came close. For me, the Grand Tours are the highest stage in cycling. To be competitive in them, that is ultimately why I race.”
– Hindley said of his best result since winning the Giro in 2022
How it happened
- The final mountain stage of the Giro was a curious one. After the start in Gemona del Friuli, a town rebuilt after a catastrophic 1976 earthquake – the anniversary of which was commemorated at the morning presentation – there were about 60 km of mostly-flat roads before the first uncategorised digs of the day.
- By the first categorised climb, starting 80 km into the stage, a breakaway of seven had established itself: Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Saber), Axel Huens (Groupama-FDJ United), Larry Warbasse (Tudor), Jack Haig (Netcompany-Ineos), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana).
- The whole race was biding its time for the first ascent of the Piancavallo, 14.5 km at 7.8%, with multiple ramps over 10% in the first half of the long climb. The breakaway led onto the lower slopes, and about four and a half minutes later, Visma-Lease a Bike brought the peloton to the foot at what appeared to be a moderate pace.
- That changed just a few hundred metres into the climb as Tim Rex put the hammer down for one of his signature massive, face-contorting efforts. The 22-year-old Belgian slashed a minute out of the break's advantage in less than 4 km, before swinging off and near enough coming to a standstill on the roadside.
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