Place Name: Via Giacomo Venezian
Address: Via Giacomo Venezian 1, 62032 Camerino Macerata, Italy
Details: March 14, 2026
The start of the last big GC day of this edition of Tirreno-Adriatico is in the ancient hilltop town of San Severino Marche. The race will follow the Chienti River downstream towards the coast but will make a U-turn in Sforzacosta to head back towards the hills. The intermediate sprint will come early in Sarnano at 135KM to go at the base of the largest climb all week, the Sassotetto. The Sassotetto rises for 13KM at an average of 7% up to over 1,500M above sea level. A long descent through Bolognola and San Lorenzo al Lago will take the riders to the start of the Camerino circuit that they will get quite familiar with. The bunch will arrive in Camerino for the first of four passages through the town with 83KM to go to find a circuit with numerous spitefully steep ramps. The first rise after Camerino is the Torrone, a 1.7KM climb at 6.4%, followed by a 300M and 600M ramp each at around 7%. The riders will then descend on the backside of the circuit through Castelraimondo to the base of Camerino, a 3KM climb at just 9%. The sting comes in the final kilometer which is exceptionally steep at over 12%. The repetitive nature will blow the race apart and time gaps should be quite large by the end of the day.
When the race got underway in San Severino Marche, it took over 30 minutes for a break to form and the average speed was above 49KM/HR. A group of seven formed including Timo Kielich of Visma-Lease a Bike, Filippo Ganna of Ineos, Walter Calzoni of Pinarello Q36.5, Vincenzo Albanese of EF-Education EasyPost, Clément Braz Afonso of Groupama-FDJ United, Gregor Mühlberger of Decathlon CMA CGM, and Guillermo Thomas Silva of XDS-Astana. Kielich led over Sassotetto and started the long descent down towards the circuit. With 87KM to go, near the first passage through Camerino, the break had 4 minutes on the peloton which was starting to come alive. Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor Pro Cycling was setting a fierce pace up the climb which had forced the GC riders to move forward and occupy the first positions in the peloton.
Alaphilippe was still pulling a significantly reduced bunch along and, with 80KM to go nearing Torrone, the gap was down to 2 minute 30 seconds. The Frenchman road all the way around the circuit to 62KM to go on the front and brought the break single handedly to within 1 minute 20 seconds. The break split apart at the bottom of the climb as Braz Afonso and Mühlberger went clear of the rest. Near the top of the climb and the finish line, Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost went on the attack from the bunch and joined up with Albanese from the original move from a kilometer until the Italian could pull no more.
The race settled into a more static situation. With 46KM to go, Braz Afonso and Mühlberger were at 2 minutes from the peloton with Carapaz stuck alone in the middle at 1 minute 16 seconds and just burning energy. The racing up to this point was great, but the scenery around the circuit was spectacular. Camerino is perched high on a hill with views of the high Apennines in the distance and seemingly endless rolling green meadows and fields surrounding the little town.
Back on course, Carapaz joined up with Ganna and a few of the dropped riders from the break. UAE-XRG started to ride behind however and the move was shut down with 37KM to go. The bunch raced for the right corner into the Camerino climb for the penultimate time and started the climb with 32KM to go at a 1 minute 10 second deficit to the two remaining leaders. Jan Christen of UAE-XRG did an incredible ride on the front of the bunch, up the climb, through the line, all the way to 24KM to go when Visma-Lease a Bike came up with strength. Tim Rex buried himself on the way towards Castelraimondo with Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson on his wheel. Riders were sent out the back very quickly but the move fizzled and UAE-XRG regained control after the descent into Castelraimondo with 10KM to go.
Braz Afonso and Mühlberger survived the acceleration and rebuilt their gap from 7 seconds back up to half a minute. The catch was inevitable however and was finally made with 7KM to go as Christen dragged the peloton across the void and continued charging towards the final climb. The first attack came from van Aert with 4.3KM to go to get a head start on the climbers. Lidl-Trek took up the chase but when the climb began, attacks came straight away. Ben Healy of EF-Education EasyPost flew off the front and got a gap. He caught and passed van Aert like the Belgian was standing still. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe set their plan forward as Giulio Pellizzari launched from the group. Race leader Isaac del Toro of UAE-XRG covered the move on his own and went to the front to set the pace since he was completely isolated by this point.
There were a few moves that broke del Toro's rhythm, two of which came from Michael Storer of Tudor Pro Cycling, but the favorites were mostly still together. A counter attack came from Pellizzari and, again, it was up to del Toro pull it back. Del Toro got lucky as Uno-X Mobility, who had two riders in the group, started to ride for the GC of Tobias Johannessen. Under 1KM to go, Pellizzari caught Healy. Meanwhile behind, the final Uno-X Mobility rider pulled off and Johannessen attacked. A few gaps formed in the chase group but del Toro gathered himself and lifted the pace to match the Norwegian. Pellizzari was caught with 600M to go and the group now consisted of del Toro, Pellizzari, Jorgenson, Johannessen, and Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek. Del Toro accelerated as soon as Pellizzari was caught but it was an attack from Jorgenson that broke the group. Only del Toro was able to follow and the Mexican continued to do so until 175M to go when he hit out for the line. There was no reaction from Jorgenson and del Toro danced his way up to the line to take the victory and all but seal the overall. Jorgenson faded in the last 50M and was pipped on the line by Johannessen who took second on the day with an official gap of 3 seconds behind del Toro. Pellizarri was fourth at 9 seconds with Ciccone behind in fifth.
The top three in GC remained the same with del Toro leading. Johannessen took crucial bonus seconds away from Jorgenson by taking second on the stage. If Jorgenson could have held his spot, he would have moved to second overall but instead remains in third at 43 seconds, just 1 second shy of Pellizzari. Johannessen jumped over both Primož Roglič and Giulio Ciccone and now sits comfortably in fourth overall.
Tags: Tirreno-Adriatico, 2026, Tirreno-Adriatico 2026, Stage 6, March, San Severino Marche, Camerino, Timo Kielich, Filippo Ganna, Walter Calzoni, Vincenzo Albanese, Clément Braz Afonso, Gregor Mühlberger, Guillermo Thomas Silva, Julian Alaphilippe, Richard Carapaz, Jan Christen, Tim Rex, Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Ben Healy, Giulio Pellizzari, Isaac del Toro, Michael Storer, Tobias Johannessen