June 18, 2026
Today's 158 km second stage around Locarno has the same amount of altitude gain as yesterday but it is less concentrated in the back end and may prove to be less decisive in the GC. Many riders will be waking up with revised ambitions since it seems the overall win is already out of the picture. There are still four stages left however and if one is switched on and ready for the fight, they can come out swinging and take the race on. The stage will get underway from the banks of Lago di Maggiore and head South for three climbs in the first 50 km, the hardest being the Monte Ceneri, 5.3 km at 6.3%. The bunch will then head back North up to Serravalle in the Brenio Valley where the Giro visited this year on Stage 16. The riders will stay along the Brenno River however and not climb to Leontica and Torre which will be a relief to many. The Tissot Sprints come with 46 km to go with a run through Bellinzona before the last two climbs of the day including the Fanghi, 3.5 km at 7% and the Orselina, 1.4 km at nearly 9%. There is almost no time between the two climbs and, with the top of the Orselina coming 8 km from the finish in Locarno, it is the logical launchpad for anyone wanting to hit out for a stage win.
Race Summary
The mood may have been a bit subdued at the sign-on but once the flag dropped, enthusiasm returned and the racing was hectic to make the break. In the end, fourteen riders got clear including Emiel Verstrynge of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Afonso Eulálio of Bahrain Victorious, Ewen Costiou and Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ United, Bauke Mollema of Lidl-Trek, Filippo Zana of Soudal Quickstep, Finlay Pickering of Jayco AlUla, Chris Hamilton of Picnic-PostNL, Bart Lemmen of Visma-Lease a Bike, Marco Schrettl of XDS-Astana, Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor Pro Cycling, and the Pinarello Q36.5 trio of Milan Vader, Fred Wright, and Marcel Camprubí. With 83 km remaining, the group had 1 minute 45 seconds and were driving in a double paceline to stay away from the UAE-XRG led peloton.
Over the next 30 km, the break were able to take more and more time and were up to 3 minutes with 53 km to go. UAE-XRG were riding with Nils Politt and Domen Novak but Tim Wellens came the front and was ready to contribute to the chase. The break was so focused on keeping the momentum that they didn't bother battling for the Tissot Sprints in Lodrino but 25 seconds had been cut off their advantage nonetheless with the extra help from Wellens.
The peloton wasn't hanging around and flew back down the valley towards Locarno and the start of the Fanghi, the penultimate climb of the day. As hard as Wellens was pulling, he was only one man and could not contain the fourteen riders all by himself. With 29 km to go, the gap was pushing out to 3 minutes again and EF-Education EasyPost decided to put a man up with Wellens to keep hold the advantage. 4 km from the base of Fanghi, the gap was down to 2 minutes 20 seconds and the peloton was spread wide across the road in anticipation of the climb.
When the break turned right off the valley road and onto the Fanghi climb, they had 2 minutes 10 seconds. Costiou went to the front straight away to avoid any lull in pace that would give time back for free. Pickering was the first to lift the speed as they cruised around the lower hairpins with the valley just below and the glistening waters of the Lago di Maggiore just off in the distance. Behind, UAE-XRG replaced Wellens with Felix Großschartner and Brandon McNulty who quickly had the peloton whittled down to 40 riders. About 1 km from the top, Eulálio made a bid to split up the front group with a strong attack which shed some of his break away companions. Over the top, the front group contained Eulálio, Zana, Pickering, Lemmen, Grégoire, Verstrynge, Vader, Camprubí, and Hamilton. The peloton were only 25 riders when they crested Fanghi and had cut their deficit to just 1 minute.
The descent was sinuous, twisting through villages and not dissimilar to what you might find in Nice. After about 200 meters of flat, the riders turned right back onto the final climb to Orselina which was shorter but much steeper. Just 35 seconds after the remnants of the break reached the base of Orselina, Jhonatan Narváez led the favorites onto the climb. The Ecuadorian carried his unbelievable form from the Giro and lit up the group and only his teammate, Tadej Pogačar, and Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek were able to follow. Before anyone else could gather their breath and latch on, Pogačar hit out with Vacek was resilient and glued to his wheel.
The leaders, which consisted of Lemmen, Pickering, Vader, Zana, Verstrynge, and Grégoire, crested Orselina still with 30 seconds to Pogačar and Vacek with 8 km remaining. The descent had a few hairpins but everyone made it down safely to start the flat 5 km run to the finish line. Pogačar and Vacek had gathered Eulálio on the descent and the three riders were chasing through the streets of Locarno at 21 seconds.
2 km from the line, the front group was swapping turns well but Pogačar and Vacek were closing at 15 seconds with Eulálio in tow. The first move from the leaders came from Zana 1,400 meters from the finish. He was covered immediately but was countered by Lemmen under the 1 km banner. The group was back together 500 meters later as they swung onto the lake side boulevard. One final corner remained and it was Grégoire who led through just outside 200 meters to go. Fortunately for Grégoire, Lemmen, who had just put in a big acceleration, was on the wheel. Out of the corner and into the finish straight, Grégoire hit the gas and Lemmen had no answer. The others also looked spent and only Camprubí was able to come around the Dutchman before the finish line. Grégoire coasted the last 25 meters to the finish in celebration with Camprubí then Lemmen behind in second and third.
Only a 4 second gap separated Pogačar and Vacek from the others which meant more time gains for the race leader on all the other GC contenders, most of which came in 32 seconds down. There were riders spread all over however and a few GC hopefuls lost significant time such as Andrew August at over 2 minutes and Antonio Tiberi at 3 minutes 47 seconds. After just two stages, Pogačar now leads Richard Carapaz by 2 minutes 50 seconds, Andrea Bagioli by 3 minutes 7 seconds, with an absolute chasm back to the rest.