'Today was not the plan' - Ballerini takes unexpected Giro win in Naples after late crash

The finale into Naples had been set up for a bunch sprint, with Ballerini working for XDS-Astana teammate Matteo Malucelli through the final kilometres. 

However, chaos at the last corner changed the stage completely after a crash in the last 400 metres on a cobbled U-turn took out several contenders, including his leader for the stage, Malucelli.

“No, actually, I was thinking to win one stage in the Giro, but like all the other years that I was participating in this race,” Ballerini said afterwards in his post-race interview. “But yes, today was not on the plan.”

“Today, the sprinter was Malucelli. I was trying to do the maximum for him, but when we arrived in the last corner, I saw that the first two guys had a crash.”

Ballerini avoided the incident and immediately heard instructions over the race radio to keep going as gaps opened behind him.

“I just exit from the corner and I hear in the radio, ‘Go, go, go, till the finish, there is a gap.’”

The 31-year-old accelerated towards the line ahead of Jasper Stuyen.

“I just start and I was hoping the line was coming really fast,” he said. “But I made it. I’m really happy.”

Despite multiple wins across his career, the Giro had remained unfinished business for Ballerini, who said finally winning on home roads carried extra meaning after years of trying.

“Yeah, finally,” he said. “It’s really important because we work too much, I mean, we work a lot for this. In cycling there is always some problems.”

“And then especially when you don’t expect the result, the win is coming.”

The victory in Naples marks the second of the 2026 Giro d'Italia for XDS-Astana after Guillermo Thomas Silva's victory on stage 2, which in turn led to a brief stint in the maglia rosa.