“Terrible” time trial?
It’s not that, barring accident or illness, the Dane will not win the Giro. He will, but he finished 13th on Tuesday’s 42 km time trial, 3 minutes behind the winner, Filippo Ganna (Netcompany INEOS), and 1:06 behind GC rival, and Ganna’s teammate, Thymen Arensman. Not that this put his position in the GC in danger, for he still led Arensman, his nearest rival in the standings, by 1:30, with Felix Gall, who lived down to expectations in the time trial, now in fourth, 1:57 behind Vingegaard.
But they all still trailed the surprise race leader, Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious), who continued to be brave and resistant while making a lot of people in his home country, Portugal, very happy.
As for Vingegaard, he was not happy with his ITT performance. Or was he? “Terrible,” he said, but with a laugh. “It was terrible. It was a long, flat time trial, which isn’t my speciality. I’ve never been very good at flat efforts. To be honest, I think I got through it reasonably well.” So, he was talking about the race, not his performance. He went on to say, “I think a completely flat time trial like this suits the slightly bigger riders. The more power you have, the better.”
And he remained positive. “I think I’m in a good position,” he declared. “I’m close to the pink jersey, and it would have been nice to have it already. Every day in a leader’s jersey is a pleasure and something to be happy about. I think I’m in a good spot.” He is.
As for Ganna, he was delighted to finally ride an ITT that suited his power, for it was the longest Giro d’Italia ITT in more than 10 years. He beat his second-place teammate Arensman by 1:54, with Rémi Cavagna (Groupama–FDJ United) finishing third at 1:59. In other words, total dominance.
“It’s really nice, with a long TT like this,” he said. “I really like it. I’m really happy to finally find a good TT for me, without a climb.” And he’s looking forward to poaching more stages, especially Friday’s stage 13, which finishes in his home town of Verbania. “From today starts another Giro for Filippo,” Filippo said. “Now we want another victory in a [road stage]. Why not try Friday for me – as well as another stage, obviously if it’s less than 4,000 meters [of climbing].”
That man Narváez again
The biggest move on Wednesday’s stage 11, which was always going to favour a breakaway, came with about 84 km left to ride in the 195 km course from Porcaris to Chiavari, when Narváez made his way to the lead group. On a day of high-speed racing and multiple attacks and counter-attacks, as well as some 2,800 meters of climbing, that move changed the day’s narrative. The front group managed to hold off all pursuers and came into the final 20 km reduced to five riders, due to a crash, and with a lead of 2:53 over the peloton.
In addition to Movistar’s Enric Mas and Narváez, the group contained Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana), Chris Harper (Pinarello Q36.5) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe). Mas attacked 16.5 kmfrom the finish, on an uncategorised climb (4.6 km @ 6.4%), and only Narváez and Harper were able to go with him. But Harper was dropped when Mas accelerated again.
The three-time Ecuadorian champion had to work hard to stay with Mas, who is the superior climber. As Narváez put it after the stage, “Enric Mas was the strongest in the climb, and I knew I had to play my game. I always remember a book I was reading, which said [that] if you don’t have your game, just make your own game. You won’t see Michael Phelps running, he’s a specialist in the pool. And I just tried to defend myself in the uphills.”
He defended brilliantly and then easily defeated the Spaniard in the two-man sprint. But it was a hard-fought victory. “I was scared because [Mas] almost tried to close me in the barriers, and I was on the limit,” Narváez said about the final sprint.
“All day it was full-gas racing. Not just in the uphill, but the downhill also. When we started, we said we have to jump in the breakaway because it’s our goal. Then we missed the first group, then we missed the second group, then, after two hours of hard racing, I tried to jump straight to the breakaway. This was difficult.”
But he has made his mark on this race, as has his team, which responded brilliantly to the stage 2 crash that eliminated three of its principal riders. Narváez’s performance is all the more remarkable because the Giro is his first race since January, when he crashed in the Tour Down Under, sustaining serious spinal injuries and a concussion.
Bahrain Victorious wins the stage and stays in pink
Thursday’s stage 12, another race of constant attacking and high speeds, was a special one for Bahrain Victorious, which won the stage through a bold late move by Alec Segaert and held on to the race leader’s pink jersey, as the unheralded Eulálio continued to impress with his courage and suborn resistance; he even added 6 seconds to his lead over Vingegaard by winning the Red Bull KM sprint. He now leads the Dane by 33 seconds, with Arensman in third at 2:03.
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But the day belonged to the 23-year-old Segaert, who benefitted from the same Movistar strategy that Narváez exploited on stage 4. Working hard on the stage’s two Category 3 climbs to eliminate the main sprinters in favour of their fast man, Orluis Aular, the team ignored another of the peloton’s strong puncheurs, as they had with Narváez.
Taking advantage of a strong pace set by Visma–Lease a Bike in the final 5 km, Segaert exploded out of the peloton with 3.3 km left to ride and was never seriously threatened. Cyclocross star Toon Aerts (Lotto Intermarché) finished second, 3 seconds adrift, just ahead of former race leader Thomas Silva (XDS Astana).
“It’s super amazing,” Segaert said after his first Grand Tour stage win. “It’s my first Giro d’Italia. I came often to Italy to race in the youth categories as well, and wore the maglia rosa in the Giro Next Gen. To do it here on the biggest stage, while the Giro was already amazing for the team with the maglia rosa for Afonso [Eulálio], it’s amazing.”
Asked when he had decided to attack at that point in the race, Segert said, “Yesterday evening. I saw this as a good moment on the parcours. I was really happy with how the race was going, a hard pace on the climb, and then the teammates from the sprinters who were left had to ride hard. This was my chance to go in the final when they were all on the limit, to push one more effort. For this result, you want to give everything.”
He added that the victory more than compensated for his poor ITT, in which he finished 16th. “Winning is the best thing there is. After a bit of disappointment in the TT, I think this is the right way to come back stronger.”
Friday’s flat stage 13 could see the sprinters finally get another chance to shine, but there’s another tough Category 3 climb on the road that could see Netcompany INEOS help Ganna to a hometown win. Saturday’s stage looks like the end of Eulálio’s wonderful defence of the pink jersey and will perhaps be decisive for the GC as it ends with another gruelling summit finish
Results, 2026 Giro d’Italia, stage 12: Imperia to Novi Ligure (175 km)
1. Alec Segaert, Bahrain Victorious 3:53:00
2. Toon Aerts, Lotto Intermarché +0:03
3. Thomas Silva, XDS Astana “
4. Ethan Vernon, NSN Cycling “
5. Jasper Stuyven, Soudal Quick-Step “
6. Orluis Aular, Movistar “
7. Madis Mihkels, EF Education–EasyPost “
8. Jhonatan Narváez, UAE Team Emirates–XRG “
9. Edoardo Zambanini, Bahrain Victorious “
10. Sakarias Koller Løland, Uno-X Mobility “
2026 Giro d’Italia GC Standings After Stage 12
1. Afonso Eulálio, Bahrain-Victorious 48:10:38
2. Jonas Vingegaard, Visma–Lease a Bike +0:33
3. Thymen Arensman, Netcompany INEOS +2:03
4. Felix Gall, Decathlon CMA CGM +2:30
5. Ben O’Connor, Jayco AlUla +2:50
6. Jai Hindley, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe +3:12
7. Michael Storer, Tudor Pro Cycling +3:34
8. Derek Gee-West, Lidl-Trek +3:40
9. Giulio Pellizzari, Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe +3:42
10. Chris Harper, Pinarello Q36.5 +4:15
