May 24, 2026
One could not create more of a contrast between two sequential stages than between yesterday's mountain marathon in the Val d'Aosta and today's kermesse style sprint fest in Milan. With the start in Voghera, the stage has more of a 'last day of a Grand Tour' feel than of a weekend stage in the second week. At 157 km, the riders will leave Voghera and head North through Stradella and into Pavia for the intermediate sprint with 98 km remaining. The first passage of the finish line comes with 65 km to go and marks the start of four full laps of a 16.5 km circuit in the streets of Milan. The majority of the circuit is actually spent riding out and back on a ring road. The last corner will come with just a bit less than 2 km to go from which point the road is dead-straight with the finish line in the Palestro neighborhood. The finish is wide and paved so we should get a clean battle among the sprinters who have had to be patient for this opportunity.
Race Summary
Summer-like conditions continued as the sun baked the Po River basin in heat pushing 32C (90F). When the flag dropped, the expected teams of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and Polti-VisitMalta went on the attack but they were not the only ones. Alpecin-Premier Tech and Uno-X Mobility were also active which caught the attention of sprint teams like Lidl-Trek, NSN Cycling, and Soudal Quickstep. The second string off attacks was more successful with a group of four going clear, consisting of Mattia Bais and Mirco Maestri of Polti-VisitMalta, Martin Marcellusi of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, and Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility. Alpecin-Premier Tech missed the move and rode on the front but they could not reset the race and the four leaders were allowed to build their advantage.
The usual suspects came to the front in the form of Ayco Bastiaens of Soudal Quickstep, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier of Lidl-Trek, and Hartthijs De Vries of Unibet Rose Rockets when the gap reached 3 minutes. With a tail wind, the break was able to keep the speed around 50 km/hr and were soon to the intermediate sprint in Pavia. As they approached the line, Marcellusi was looking twitchy and he was the first to go. Bais came up to challenge and pushed Marcellusi to the line but the pink sidewalls of the Bardiani rider hit the sprint line first. With four riders in the break, only a single point was available for the peloton. It was enough however to get the likes of Jhonatan Narváez of UAE-XRG interested and his teammates set up the perfect lead out. Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep placed himself on Narváez's wheel and, as good as the lead out was for Narváez, the pure speed of Magnier was too great and the Frenchman handily won the sprint. The single point drew Magnier level with Narváez in the sprint competition but there were 50 points available at the finish to break the tie.
The race continued on towards Milan, always following the Naviglio Pavese, an ancient waterway that was originally constructed in the 16th and 17th century. The riders entered the circuit with 73.5 km remaining and were greeted by large crowds and slightly tighter roads than expected. Many of the boulevards were tree covered which provided shade but also shadows, making it difficult to see potholes in the road. When the break reached the finish line, people were three deep hugging the barriers, peering over each other to get a glimpse of the riders coming through. The peloton was 2 minutes and chasing quite hard but the break had shifted down the sprocket and riding visibly harder.
Dversnes won the Redbull Sprint at 42 km to go still with 2 minutes of an advantage. EF-Education EasyPost had added a man to the chase but the gap didn't budge. At the same time, a number of riders had gone back to the race jury car to have a conversation about the circuit, including Maglia Rose Jonas Vingegaard. There were chicanes with tram tracks and large stone pavers but nothing else on the course seemed overly dangerous from what could be seen on the broadcast. A decision was made to pause the GC time at 5 km from the finish instead of 3 km but the race was to run otherwise as planned.
When the break reached two laps and 32.5 km to go, the gap was still 1 minute 30 seconds but the momentum was swinging back towards the peloton. Shortly after passing the finish line, the GC time was further clarified to be held with 1 lap to go which would allow anyone to sit up and relax in the last lap without worry of losing time or getting mixed up with the sprint lead outs. With 25 km to go, the gap was still 90 seconds and the average speed of the day had ticked over 51 km/hr. Lidl-Trek and Soudal Quickstep committed more men to the chase which chopped 25 seconds in just 5 km.
The break reached the finish line to hear the ringing of the bell with 16.5 km remaining and their opportunity of the win was looking good. The peloton came through the line 56 seconds down and the effort just wasn't great enough to make significant progress. With 10 km to go, other teams with sprint interests such as Groupama-FDJ United, Lotto Intermarché, and Picnic-PostNL came forward but they did not add to the chase. 30 seconds was the gap at 5 km but Lidl-Trek ran out of men and Unibet Rose Rockets were running out of gas. The bunch slowed when Unibet Rose Rockets, Soudal Quickstep, and Lidl-Trek all disappeared from the front. Alpecin-Premier Tech, Movistar, and Picnic-PostNL Raisin were forced forward but the pace wasn't quick enough.
The gap was 21 seconds under 1 km to go and when Dversnes pulled off, no one came through. It took a moment before Bais hit the front which signaled that Maestri was going to be their man for the sprint. Bais sat on the front with Dversnes in second, followed by Maestri then Marcellusi. When Bais pulled off with 200 meters to go, the other three launched at the same moment. Their legs were screaming as they powered to the line but no single rider had more to give than another and they crossed the finish line as they were with Dversnes taking his first Grand Tour stage win and the first-ever Giro stage win for Uno-X Mobility. Maestri and Marcellusi rounded out the podium as second and third with Bais taking fourth. The stage was the third fastest of all-time at the Giro with an average speed of 51.064 km/hr. The sprinters were heart broken to miss out and disappointment was writ large. Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep took the sprint for fifth but it was not the outcome they had worked for.