May 19, 2026
While the other Grand Tours have moved away from long time trials, the Giro seems to have embraced them. The riders come out of the rest day and are smacked with a 42 km ITT which should be pivotal in the outcome of the race overall. The course is completely flat along the Tuscan beaches between Viareggio and Massa. Nearly the entire peloton will be familiar with a large portion of the course because it runs directly through Lido di Camaiore which traditionally hosts the ITT to start the Tirreno-Adriatico. There are three intermediate time checks along the way for the riders to gauge their effort on the competition but they will have to judge their pacing on what is possible for their bodies to produce.
Race Summary
Heavy rain fell in the morning hours but by the time Frank van den Broek of Picnic-PostNL Raisin rolled off the ramp as the first rider, the clouds had cleared and the sun was out. The first few riders to start had to deal with wet corners however which automatically put them at a disadvantage to those setting off later in the day. Sjoerd Bax of Pinarello Q36.5 set a very fast early time of 47 minutes 57 seconds but the problem for everyone was the Italian ITT Champion, Filippo Ganna of Netcompany-Ineos. The Italian tri-colore was ablaze as he stormed passed all of the popular holiday spots along the Tyrrhenian coastline. Ganna hit all of his marks and came home 2 minutes 4 seconds quicker than Bax with a scary average speed of 54.921 km/hr in what would turn out to be one of the most dominant ITT performances in recent years.
Only Rémi Cavagna of Groupama-FDJ United got within 2 minutes of Ganna by the time the top 15 guys in GC rolled off the ramp. Watching the top riders for the overall hit the time checks and make their way to the finish was fascinating. After race leader Afonso Eulálio crossed the line as the last finisher, we could assess the game of chutes and ladders that had taken place.
In the top performing category, the best of the GC riders by far was Thymen Arensman of Netcompany-Ineos. He took second on the stage behind his teammate at 1 minute 53 seconds. Derek Gee of Lidl-Trek was the next-best GC performer, finishing fifth at 2 minutes 15 seconds. Ben O'Connor of Jayco AlUla would also be happy with his ride, coming home in eleventh at 2 minutes 41 seconds.
Disappoints were aplenty. Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike finished 3 minutes down in one of the worst ITT's of his career. Jai Hindley of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe was a further 30 seconds behind. Felix Gall of Decathlon CMA CGM was at an abismal 4 minutes 21 seconds and Afonso Eulálio was nearly 5 minutes down in 41st place.
Ganna took his seventh Giro ITT stage win and the eight stage win of his career. Arensman was an impressive second place with Cavagna holding off the other GC contenders to slot in for third place.
The top 10 in GC now stands as follows:
1 Afonso Eulálio 39:40:34
2 Jonas Vingegaard - 0:27
3 Thymen Arensman -1:57
4 Felix Gall -2:24
5 Ben O'Connor -2:48
6 Jai Hindley -3:06
7 Michael Storer -3:28
8 Derek Gee -3:34
9 Giulio Pellizzari -3:36
10 Markel Beloki -4:16