May 30, 2026
It's last chance saloon for anyone with ambition and the legs to get something out of this Giro and there is opportunity in this 200 km, 20th stage to Piancavallo. The riders will leave Gemona del Friuli at the base of the Julian Prealps, a city meticulously rebuilt after being devistated by an earthquake in 1976, and follow the Tagliamento River South for around 70 km of flat racing in the Friuli Plain. Once across the Tagliamento River, there are a few short ramps and the intermediate sprint before a 6.8 km, 5.7% climb to Clauzetto. Another 40 km flat section to Aviano brings the riders to the Carnic Range of the Friulian Dolomites for two ascents of Piancavallo. The climb is 14.5 km at almost 8% but the sting is in the first 9 km which averages over 9%. The stage is reminiscent of 2024 in Bassano del Grappa and the double ascent of Monte Grappa but the difference this time is that the finish is at the summit. In terms of the stakes, third place is the only realistic spot in the top five up for grabs with 29 seconds separating Jai Hindley and Thymen Arensman. The Maglia Ciclamino should be wrapped up, assuming Paul Magnier finishes the day safely. Giulio Ciccone has attacked in nearly every mountain stage up to this point and has likely taken enough points to own the Maglia Azzurro but he will have to be attentive to Jonas Vingegaard. The Maglia Bianca for best young rider is held by Afonso Eulálio but only by about 1 minute to Davide Piganzoli who seems to be getting better day by day. And of course, there is the stage win to consider. There is a lot of flat terrain to cover before the climbs so if a break can get a decent advantage, they would stand a chance but it would have to be north of 4 minutes at the base of Piancavallo for the second time to harbor any hope.
Race Summary
Another day of heat had the riders stocked up with bottles and ice socks as they rolled out of town towards KM0. Lidl-Trek were active at the start, particularly local man Jonathan Milan who knew every inch of the first 70 km. A large stone arched bridged brought the riders over the wonderfully blue Tagliamento. Interestingly, a group of five got away without Lidl-Trek or Movistar who were in just about every major break the entire race. The five clear were Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility, Jonas Geens of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Guillermo Thomas Silva of XDS-Astana, Jack Haig of Netcompany-Ineos, and Axel Huens of Groupama-FDJ United. It looked like a done deal but Larry Warbasse of Tudor Pro Cycling, Manuele Tarozzi of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, and Arjen Livyns of XDS-Astana were able to sneak away which kicked off more activity in the peloton.
With 171 km to go, a truce was called and the peloton shut down for good. The five leaders were 2 minutes 30 seconds ahead with Warbasse and Tarozzi at 1 minute. Livyns had Silva up front and wasn't interested in a chase so he let go and drifted back to the peloton. Warbasse and Tarozzi persisted and hung on at 1 minute from the front group for 35 km but they never gave up and were able to use one of the steep ramps coming into the intermediate sprint to make contact at the front. Tarozzi had the lead in the intermediate sprint classification and was happy to have joined the front of the race but as they approached the line in Forgaria Nel Friuli, he had competition for the prize. Silva sprang forward and took the sprint ahead of Leknessund with Tarozzi taking a handful of points in third.
The break carried on to the bottom of the Clauzetto with 121 km remaining with a gap of 5 minutes. Visma-Lease a Bike had let the gap go quite far but flipped the switch coming into Clauzetto and cut 45 seconds off in no time. By the top, the gap was under 4 minutes as the break started the sinuous descent down off the hilltop village towards Travesio. The journey from Travesio to the base of Piancavallo spanned both the Meduna and Cellina Rivers across the Fruilian Plain on the Western side of the Tagliamento. The break were able to rebuild their advantage to 4 minutes 30 seconds by the bottom of the climb as they started climbing with 67 km remaining.
Tim Rex took up the pace in the first few kilometers of the climb for Visma-Lease a Bike and took a full minute off the gap. Riders were dropping out of the peloton in groups of five to ten and it was quickly reduced to only those with a job still to do. Victor Campenaerts took over and continued the pace, cutting the gap down to 2 minutes with 8 km still to climb. Campenaerts had to knock off the speed for a moment while Vingegaard stopped to check his front tire for what seemed to be rock stuck in it. It was no worry for the Dane who was back up with his teammates in no time and the effort was resumed. Gradients eased with 6 km to climb and the gap stabilized at 2 minutes from Haig, Leknessund, and Warbasse who were the last remaining riders from the break. The front group reached the tree line and got no shade from the baking hot sun but for a few hundred meters through the occasional avalanche tunnel. At the top, Haig led Warbasse and Leknessund over just 1 minute 10 seconds ahead of the favorites group. For the mountains classification, Huens and Geens hadn't been caught and, as a result, the top five places were taken which meant there were not enough points left on the stage for Vingegaard to overtake Giulio Ciccone who mathematically won the Maglia Azzurro.
In the peloton, Igor Arrieta of UAE-XRG attacked just before the favorites group summitted along with rising talent, Ludovico Crescioli of Polti-VisitMalta. Arrieta and Crescioli picked up Huens and bombed down the descent. They made contact with the three leaders at 36.5 km from the finish and an increased advantage of 1 minute 40 seconds. 20 more seconds were added by the Redbull Sprint at 23.5 km which was taken by Arrieta. By the bottom of Piancavallo for the second time, the six leaders started the final climb of this Giro with 2 minutes 5 seconds on the peloton.
Campenaerts led Visma-Lease a Bike up the first kilometer before pulling off after a job well done. Bart Lemmen took over and with 12.5 km remaining, the gap was 1 minute 20 seconds and only the fresh legs of Arrieta and Crescioli were with Leknessund and Warbasse who were both on a good day. With 11 km remaining, Sepp Kuss was dropped from the Visma-Lease a Bike train leaving just Lemmen in front of Vingegaard. Davide Piganzoli was sitting behind the Vingegaard as he had personal ambitions of taking the Maglia Bianca. It all changed 500 meters later when Piganzoli drifted to the back of the favorites group was started to get distanced. At that moment, Lemmen also peeled off, leaving Vingegaard no real option but to accelerate and go for it early. Gall hung on for a minute but, like the story we have seen play out many times on this Giro, the gap opened up and Vingegaard was off on his own. Crescioli and Leknessund were the last two survivors from the break but they were caught and passed by the Maglia Rose 10 km from the top.
A bit further up the mountain, Gall was sitting at 20 seconds with the rest of the favorites together, a further 10 seconds behind. Egan Bernal was pulling the group for his Netcompany-Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman with Jai Hindley of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Derek Gee of Lidl-Trek, and Eulálio still there and fighting. Gee noticed that Arensman was starting to struggle and put the Dutchman into trouble when he accelerated with eyes for taking fourth place in GC. 7 km from the finish, Gee and Hindley were closing in on Gall and Bernal and Arensman were limiting their loses well and chasing hard. Piganzoli had recovered, caught Eulálio, and was towing along Caruso and Michael Storer of Tudor Pro Cycling.
Gee and Hindley caught Gall with 5 km remaining. Bernal was saving Arensman's fourth overall, pulling at just 15 seconds behind. In the third group, Piganzoli was trying his hardest to drop Eulálio but the Portuguese held tight with Caruso and Storer still on the wheel. All of the Italian's work was for not because Eulálio attacked just outside 2 km to go and put the Maglia Bianca classification to bed. Meanwhile up front, Vingegaard powered through the final kilometer and into the barriers with thousands on hand to watch the Dane arrive at his fifth stage win. Bernal was teammate of the day and brought Arensman to the Gall group with 1,500 meters to go. Hindley led out for the sprint but Gall passed him on the line for second place with Gee coming across in fourth at 1 minute 15 seconds and Arensman in fifth a few seconds later. Eulálio put 10 seconds into Piganzoli in the final kilometer to confirm the breakout performance of his young career.
With all of the anticipation of such a difficult double ascent of Piancavallo, there were no changes in GC placings in the top 10. Time gaps grew however with Vingegaard heading to Rome with a 5 minute 22 second lead on Gall and 6 minutes 25 seconds on Hindley in third place.