'I did not expect it will happen today' - Magnier shocked after third Giro stage win

Magnier had already won two stages in the 2026 Giro d’Italia, taking the opening stage in Bulgaria and the maglia rosa, followed by stage 3. Those victories had come in more conventional sprint scenarios. 

Stage 18, by contrast, looked far less suited to the fast men, with many expecting the honours to go to the breakaway or late attackers. Magnier himself had counted among those doubters.

"No really, I did not expect it will happen today, so this is why it makes it even more beautiful, but yeah, I can really thank my team for the confidence," Magnier said in his flash interview.

The decisive obstacle came inside the final 10 kilometres, where the riders tackled the Muro Ca'Del Poggio, a 1.1 kilometre climb averaging 11.3 percent. 

Magnier was briefly distanced on the ramp, but his Soudal Quick-Step teammates rallied around him, helping bring the front group back before Jasper Stuyven delivered a powerful lead-out in the finale.

Magnier described it as “an amazing lead-out,” and the Frenchman duly finished off his teammates’ work with another emphatic sprint victory.

The win also carried significant weight in the points classification. Magnier added 50 points to his tally, moving back into the maglia ciclamino with three stages remaining.

Reflecting on his Giro so far, Magnier said he had never expected to be fighting for the ciclamino jersey, but he was clearly savouring a race that has already exceeded expectations.

"I will enjoy the three-stage wins, and I had the pink jersey already and the Ciclamino jersey for many days, it's something that I don't expect before this Giro and I'm super proud to be there now."

Magnier’s teammate Jasper Stuyven admitted, after delivering the decisive lead-out, that a sprint victory had not been part of Soudal Quick-Step’s original plan at the start of the day. “I don’t think that was the plan when we started this morning, but sometimes it works out that way,” Stuyven told Eurosport, with many having expected the stage to favour the breakaway or late attackers.

“Paul has suffered a lot over the last few days,” Stuyven said. “But maybe the fact there was no pressure on today helped us. When the teams started to control, we spoke to him and told him to stay focused, and that today could still be his day. He made that switch really well.”

Stuyven said the finale looked more chaotic than it felt from inside the race. “We had to bring him into the final corner in a good position if he was still there. It was downhill and slightly to the left. I think there was a lot of chaos, but we found each other at the right moment, and that’s why it worked out so well.”

With the win, Magnier appears to have taken a decisive step towards securing the maglia ciclamino, reviving a points classification battle that had seemed to be slipping away from him. He must still safely negotiate two mountain stages before Sunday’s finale in Rome, where another sprint could offer the chance to add a fourth victory to his 2026 Giro tally.