May 15, 2026
Today's stage is about fatigue resistance in what is the longest stage of the Giro in five years at 244 km. The riders will almost have to ride a mini Tirreno-Adriatico with the start in the seaside town of Formia and a long journey across Italy with the finish atop Blockhaus on the far Eastern side of the Apennines. The first 135 km are not too difficult with just an intermediate sprint in Venafro and few short blips on the profile. The real stage starts a few kilometers later at the base of Rionero Sannitico, a 9 km climb at 5%. There is a short descent into Castel di Sangro before the 7 km ascent of Roccaraso which averages 6.5%. There are two or three more peaks on the pleateau before a plunge into Caramanico Terme. 13 km of valley roads leads the riders to the Redbull Sprint which lies about 1 km up the final mountain of Blockhaus. The climb is brutal at 13.6 km with an average gradient of 8.4%. If the weather is good, the views at the top will be extraordinary overlooking Majella National Park and much of Abruzzo. The stage is set up as the first major clash among the GC riders and they will want to control for the stage win to get such a prestigious mountain on their palmares.
Race Summary
The stage scared many and very few wanted to spend energy out in the break. Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek went up the road from the start to get a lead before the mountains and to maybe pick up the sprint points in Venafro. He was followed by Diego Pablo Sevilla of Polti-VisitMalta, Jardi Van Der Lee of EF-Education EasyPost, Tim Naberman of Picnic-PostNL Raisin with Nickolas Zukowsky of Pinarello Q36.5 who bridged up a few moments later. The peloton went wide, shut down, and the break was gone. The riders were reminded they were in the Giro as they passed through Itri. The whole town looked to be out and were resplendent in pink banners and balloons to welcome the race.
Bahrain Victorious honored the jersey and started to ride when the gap got to 5 minutes. The race made the big 50 km loop back around to Formia and started to head inland towards the mountains. The good news for just about everyone was that the wind was blowing from the West, giving the riders a nice tailwind that pushed the speed over 45 km/hr for the first 75 km of racing. Visma-Lease a Bike added a man to the chase for the first time with 170 km to go, marking their intent on controlling for a potential stage win.
The race continued on in a holding pattern to the intermediate sprint in Venafro with 131 km to go where Milan snagged maximum points for the Maglia Ciclamino. The base of Rionero Sannitico was reached by the break with 109 km remaining but their gap was down to 4 minutes 45 seconds as the road turned wet from a recent rain shower. The landscape changed as the race moved on. The mountains were green but rugged with rocky outcroppings and deep ravines spanned by impressive bridge engineering. Milan made it to 99 km to go, about 4 km from the top, before dropping out of the break. The other four riders continued over the top of Rionero Sannitico with 5 minutes as they started the downhill run into Castel di Sangro.
Roccaraso did not throw up many surprises and it was Maglia Azurro leader, Sevilla, who took the points at the top to expand his lead in that competition. The gap also went back out to 5 minutes 30 seconds by the time the peloton came across the line. Rain drops began to fall as the riders continued over the high altitude rolling plateau. The break used the conditions to push on the downhills which increased their gap to 6 minutes but the peloton would increase their pace on the hills to bring it back down.
Bahrain Victorious decided to increase the pace when they hit the Passo San Leonardo. The break were forced to increase their effort but Visma-Lease a Bike were willing to work with Bahrain Victorious and sacrifice a rider and they had the race to within 3 minutes 20 seconds by the start of the descent into Caramanico Terme with 43 km remaining. Thankfully the road was dry and the break was was able to rip the flowing descent and hold their advantage to the bottom.
Naberman was the first casualty of a brutally long day, dropping from the front group on one of the little kickers in the valley. The peloton took the final opportunity to drop extra clothing and get organized for the run to the bottom of Blockhaus. At the base of the mountain, Van Der Lee attacked his break away companions which dropped Sevilla but Zukowsky had great legs and countered to start the climb with 2 minutes 40 seconds to the peloton who were led for the first time by Netcompany-Ineos. Bonus seconds and cash from the Redbull Sprint went to Zukowsky with Van Der Lee joining the Canadian again moments later.
Netcompany-Ineos were replaced by Visma-Lease a Bike who were then replaced by Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe at the front of the peloton as they climbed through the Redbull Sprint banner. Trees turned to shrubs as the bunch gained elevation and the landscape changed to open meadows with snow capped peaks in the background. Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe continued riding though 9 km to go and had the gap down to 1 minute to Van Der Lee and Zukowsky, but a change was coming. Visma-Lease a Bike took over the pace as the wind picked up and they formed an unusual mountain echelon. There were riders in the gutter getting spat out the back and only about 30 riders remained. With 8 km still to climb, Enric Mas of Movistar and Egan Bernal Netcompany-Ineos were dropped at the same moment and would not see the front of the race again.
Davide Piganzoli got the call on the radio to increase the pace which brought back Van Der Lee and Zukowsky and trimmed the group to 15 riders with 6.5 km to go. Sepp Kuss took over for Piganzoli shortly after and wound the group up for 1 km before Jonas Vingegaard attacked. Maglia Rose Afonso Eulálio of Bahrain Victorious had been dropped 200 meters earlier which left just the big pre-race favorites at the front of the race. Giulio Pellizzari of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe followed Vingegaard with Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM on his wheel. Gall held on for a moment but Vingegaard kept the pressure on blew the Austrian off the wheel. The rest of favorites lost 25 seconds in a heart beat but Pellizzari was able to hang tight.
The great Italian hope lost contact with 4.5 km to go and the Dane was alone at the front of the race. Pellizzari went into the red trying to hang on to Vingegaard and was pedaling squares. Gall caught and passed Pellizzari and was sitting second on the road with 3 km to go and just 20 seconds behind Vingegaard. Under 1 km to go, gaps were expanding to everyone but Gall who was closing at just 15 seconds. Vingegaard swung into the finish straight and kissed the family photo on his handlebars as he crossed the line. The ascent of Blockhaus was the fastest in history and the win completed the Grand Tour stage win trilogy for Vingegaard who became the 115th man to do so. Gall rode his pace and came in just 13 seconds down with Jai Hindley of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe leading in a group with Pellizzari and Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla in for third place at 1 minute 2 seconds.
Afonso Eulálio fought bravely after getting dropped and lost just 2 minutes 55 seconds which means he retains the Maglia Rose by 3 minutes 17 seconds to Vingegaard who moved to second overall. Gall sits third at 3 minutes 34 seconds and the Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe duo of Hindley and Pellizzari are in fourth and fifth nearly 4 minutes 30 seconds behind.