April 24, 2026
We've been waiting for a GC fight for four days but the hard terrain was never close enough to the finish to separate the best riders. That should change today because the majority of the 3,000 meters of elevation are back loaded in the last 50 km. The bunch will roll out of Trento and head directly North up the Adige Valley. There are two incursions away from the river to add a few extra meters of elevation to the profile. The first comes after just 4 km of racing and is 7 km long up to a sprint point in Palù di Giovo. The riders will then descend back into the valley for 30 flat kilometers before the second climb, the Kalterer Höhe, a 4.6 km rise at 6%. Another 28 km of descending and valley riding will bring the riders to the finish line in Balzano. The road immediately climbs out of Balzano to start a lollipop finishing circuit. The first 13 km climbs up to Nobls at an average of 7%. Once at the top, there is a short downhill then another rise before a 6 km descent which takes the riders down to an intersection where they turn right and climb the last 8 km up to Nobls again. When they reach the top, there will be about 13 km to go, all downhill back to the finish in Balzano. Ineos are sitting in second and third overall and will have to try something to skake Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Giulio Pellizzari.
Race Summary
Summer came early as the temperatures rose to a forecasted 25C (78F) by the time the riders were to arrive at the finish. A strong break got clear over the first climb to Palù di Giovo totaling 12 riders. The group consisted of Lennart Jasch of Tudor Pro Cycling, Sam Oomen of Lidl-Trek, Rainer Kepplinger of Bahrain Victorious, Koen Bouwman of Jayco AlUla, Juan Felipe Rodriguez and Alastair MacKellar of EF-Education EasyPost, Mattia Bais of Polti-VisitMalta, Tom Pidcock and Mark Donovan of Pinarello Q36.5, Márton Dina of MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, Nicolò Garibbo of Team UKYO, and Vicente Rojas of Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber. With 56 km to go, the race was storming up the valley road towards Balzano through seemingly endless rows of grape vines and luxurious wine estates. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were chasing at 2 minutes 25 seconds and looking quite focused with the main test lying up the road.
The break arrived through the finish line with 49 km to go with a reduced gap of just 2 minutes 5 seconds on the peloton that was strung out in single file. In the first few kilometers of the climb, Jayco AlUla took on the pace in the bunch and quickly reduced the group to around 30 riders. Donovan paced the break up Nobls until 4.5 km from the top when he emptied his last bit of energy into the pedals and pulled off. Pidcock immediately went to the front to keep the pressure on but the work being done by Jayco AlUla was effective and had the gap down to 1 minute 10 seconds.
When Pidcock took over the pace setting, the only one to stick on his wheel was Rodriguez. Dina hung on and was dangling around 10 seconds back for a long time but never made it back to the front. Meanwhile in the favorites group, Paul Double was the last man to pull for Jayco AlUla. When he swung off with about 3 km to go, the group was cut to just 20 riders with the gap holding at 1 minute 10 seconds. Ineos took up the pace which was slightly more focused than that of Jayco AlUla. In the lead group, Pidcock never asked for a turn and led Rodriguez to entire way up to the KOM point. When they started the descent, all other members of the break had been caught, including Dina, and the gap was down to just 30 seconds.
Pidcock dropped Rodriguez on the descent but when the second ascent up to Nobls started, Rodriguez made his way back and was able to distance the Brit with 7.5 km to the top. A few hundred meters later, Pidcock was caught by the peloton who were just 10 seconds behind Rodriguez and closing. Ineos had lost all domestiques but still had Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman sitting in nicely. Pellizzari put his last teammate on the front, Giovanni Aleotti, which reeled in Rodriguez and put everyone in the favorites group into difficulty. When Aleotti pulled off with 4.5 km to the top, Pellizzari put in a big attack and was followed first by Arensman then Bernal. The Italian kept the pressure on and it wasn't long before Bernal was popped, then Arensman, leaving Pellizzari off the front alone.
When Pellizzari reached the line to gather Bonus seconds with about 2 km still to climb, Bernal had distanced Arensman who now had Michael Storer of Tudor Pro Cycling for company at 20 seconds. The gaps were narrowing with 1 km to climb. Bernal was back with Arensman and Storer with the chasing trio at just 15 seconds but the gap grew out to 24 seconds by the time Pellizzari started the descent proper with about 13 km remaining which seemed unbridgeable.
Any time it was possible to pedal on the descent, Pellizzari did so. His style was effective and he was able to increase his advantage to 30 seconds when he reached the streets of Balzano with 3 km to go. Pellizzari took the final few corners and was cheered into the finish straight by thousands of jubilant fans watching their man come home first. The win was his second of the week which granted him overall honors as well. In the race for second place, Arensman led out and Bernal was able to take second place with Storer in third and Arensman in fourth, 30 seconds down on Pellizzari.
After the time gaps and bonus seconds were calculated, Pellizzari had won the GC by 40 seconds to Egan Bernal and 50 seconds to Thymen Arensman. Michael Storer's strong ride today was enough to bump him up to fourth. All four riders are on the provisional start list for the Giro d'Italia and will be taking good feelings going into the first Grand Tour of the year which is just 2 weeks away.