Combining a smooth riding style, surprising power and brilliant timing, Magnier already looks like a superstar after winning his first two Grand Tour stages. To do that, he had to beat odds-on favorite Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), who had won the points classification in all three Grand Tours he previously entered.
The young Frenchman now has 28 victories on his palmares and leads the race for the maglia ciclamino, the purple jersey worn by the leader of the points classification competition, with 105 points, with Milan at 64 and Tobias Lund Andresen (Uno-X Mobility) with 42.
The same, but different
The first three stages of this year’s Giro d’Italia, which all took place in Bulgaria, were both very similar and quite different. Ahead of Monday’s rest and travel day, Thomas Silva (XDS Astana) is wearing the race leader’s pink jersey, 4 seconds ahead of Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Egan Bernal (Netcompany INEOS).
All three races began with a small breakaway (of wo or three riders), with the peloton shrugging its collective shoulders riding along at the pace of a walk in the park. Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti VisitMalta) was in all three breaks, accompanied on Friday’s stage 1 by Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), on stage 2 by teammate Mirco Maestri and by Tarozzi and teammate Alessandro Tonelli on stage 3. As I said, the same but different.
The peloton eventually got into the spirit of the race and caught the breakaways late on all three stages, but not before the enterprising Sevilla had collected all the King of the Mountains points available on the three stages. But here is where the similarities ended.
Magnier’s first win
On Friday’s first stage, Magnier won his first Grand Tour stage by brilliantly navigating a chaotic finish and then perfectly timing his sprint to beat Lund Andresen and Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling). Milan was caught out and uncharacteristically began his sprint too late, finishing fourth.
Perhaps he was distracted by the mass crash that took down about 20 riders on the narrow finishing straight about 600 meters from the line. Among the sprinters that hit the pavement were Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Premier Tech) and Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets), who both suffered minor injuries but were able to continue.
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Young Magnier was of course delighted with his maiden Grand Tour win. “I’m so proud of the team and also my performance,” Magnier told TNT Sports. “I was already happy to be at the start of the Giro with nice shape and a special jersey from Castelli, and now I can change it for the pink jersey.”
He went on to say that “it was really hectic in the final because it was a pretty easy day, so everybody was really fresh. Then I was in a really good position. We knew the narrow road in the final would be tricky, so we tried to get in a good position. Then in the final, Jasper [Stuyven] and Dries [Van Gestel] did an amazing job and I could finish it off, so I’m super proud. There are a lot of sprinters here at the start, and it was the first time that I could sprint against these big sprinters, and I’m super happy I can beat them with a team performance.”
As a result of the win, he wore the race leader’s pink jersey on stage 2. But it was not his first pink jersey at a Giro. As he recalled, “I have some nice memories already with the pink jersey at the Giro Next Gen [the under-23 race] and now I think I will enjoy it too.” In the 2024 Giro d’Italia Next Gen, Magnier took the pink jersey after winning stage 2 and also wore it for just one stage.
Another crash and Vingegaard attacks
Stage 2 was marred by another mass crash, but this one was catastrophic and caused some serious injuries, with seven riders either unable to finish the stage or abandoning before the start of stage 3 and numerous other riders continuing the race with severe abrasions and other pains.
The incident occurred on a curve 23km from the finish after intermittent rain had dampened the pavement and took down so many riders that organizers neutralized the stage with 20km left to ride to allow ambulances to reach the scene. The race was resumed at 18.2km, but several teams had their GC dreams obliterated.
Worst hit was UAE Team Emirates–XRG. Jay Vine and Marc Soler were taken to hospital and the team’s GC rider Adam Yates did not start stage 3 after suffering from the effects of a concussion. All its plans for this Giro have flown out the window. Bahrain-Victorious’ GC rider Santiago Buitrago also abandoned, as did Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) and Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility). Andrea Vendrame (Jayco AlUla) did not start stage 3 after being diagnosed with several broken bones in his lower back.
A race finally race broke out on the stage’s final categorized climb, the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass (3.9km @ 6.8%), when race favorite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) attacked on the steepest ramp, with 11.5km left to ride, and was followed by Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché). The trio eventually opened up a lead of 24 seconds on the peloton with 4km left to ride, but they dithered in the final kilometer, allowing the chasers to catch up.
From a bunch bereft of sprinters, the sprint was won by Thomas Silva (XDS Astana), who became the first rider from Uruguay to win a Grand Tour stage. . Tudor Pro Cycling’s Stork was second with Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek finishing third.
“I’m delighted,” the winner said afterwards. “This is only the second stage of my first Giro d’Italia, and I’m the winner. It was a bit unexpected. I’m speechless. I knew I came with a good shape, but I also knew that it’s very hard to win a stage of a Grand Tour. . . . It was a hard final, but I [rode] at the front thanks to [teammate] Christian Scaroni. As for myself, I just had to keep calm and launch the sprint at the right time to conquer a huge win for myself.”
Magnier’s second win
Only one rider crashed on Sunday’s stage 3, which had a single climb located more or less in the middle of its 173km course from Plovdiv to the Bulgarian capital Sophia. The Borovets Pass was officially 9.2km long at 5.4%, but actually came at the end of a very long uphill stretch that, according to TNT Sports commentator Adam Blythe, was 47km long at an average gradient of 2.1%. Whatever it was, Sevilla again summited first, meaning that he took the most mountain points on all five categorized climbs in the first three stages.
All the sprinters except Lotto Intermarché’s Arnaud De Lie made it over the climb with the peloton. The young Belgian came into the Giro after he and most of his team came down with a bad stomach bug apparently caused by cow manure that had been on the road surface of last weekend’s Lotto Famenne Ardennes Classic, which he won. But he managed to catch up and saw the peloton catch the three breakaway riders only 400 meters from the finish.
Milan – no doubt recalling his firing late on stage 1 – began his sprint 300 meters from the line, only to be nipped in the end by the smooth-riding Magnier. Groenewegen finished third. “I have to say I feel really good and I beat the best sprinters in the world,” the Frenchman said. There is much more to come.
The Giro comes home to Italy on Tuesday, with stage 4 starting in the Calabrian city of Catanzaro.
2026 Giro d’Italia GC Standings After Stage 3
- Thomas Silva, XDS Astana 13:10:05
- Florian Stork, Tudor Pro Cycling +0:04
- Egan Bernal, Netcompany INEOS “
- Thymen Arensmen, Netcompany INEOS +0:06
- Giulio Ciccone, Lidl-Trek “
- Jan Christen, UAE Team Emirates–XRG +0:10
- Martin Tjøtta, Uno-X Mobility “
- Johannes Kulset, Uno-X Mobility “
- Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar “
- Lennert van Eetvelt, Lotto-Intermarché “
