Unstoppable Vingegaard maintains perfect summit finish record on Giro stage 16

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) maintained his perfect record on mountain top finishes in the 2026 Giro d'Italia after soloing to victory on stage 16 in Carì. 

One step closer to becoming the eighth rider to complete the Grand Tour treble, Vingegaard went solo on the final ascent to Carì with 6.6km remaining after his Visma teammates had shredded the GC group to just six riders. 

Not only was there the incentive to win in the maglia rosa for the first time, but also the opportunity to increase his control over his rivals in the GC. 

In the end, Vingegaard finished 1:07 ahead of Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) in second, and 1:11 over Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)  in third, extending his race lead. 

The Dane’s victory means that this is the third consecutive Giro where a rider has won at least four stages, following Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in 2025 and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 2024.

Overall, Vingegaard is 4:03 ahead of Gall, while Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos) moves onto the podium at 4:27.

There was plenty of indication that the stage would be controlled by Visma | Lease a Bike, but that didn’t stop a relentless battle for the breakaway. Multiple different groups and selections were formed. 

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), who had pushed on solo, was later joined by Chris Harper (Pinarello-Q36.5), Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Einer Rubio (Movistar) and Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana).

Ciccone was particularly active, claiming maximum points across the first four climbs, moving up to second in the mountains classification. However, the breakaway was never allowed an advantage of more than two minutes, with Decathlon also contributing to the pace setting in the peloton behind. 

Narváez and Ulissi dropped from the breakaway on the run-in to the final climb, before Ciccone also sat up, leaving just Rubio and Harper out front. 

With the relentless chase, Rubio also relented just before the Red Bull Kilometre, leaving Harper alone out front with 12km remaining to take six bonus seconds. Meanwhile, Filippo Magli (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) jumped out of the peloton, taking the final bonus seconds.

Once on the final climb, with Harper hanging out front, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe surged to the head of the peloton before Visma quickly re-established themselves at the front with Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike).

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was the first major rider to be distanced with 10km to go, while his team was still riding. Unlike the previous mountain stage, where he recovered from his early struggles, the Italian looked resigned to the fact that he would ship significant time in the GC. 

Just a few hundred metres later, with 9.5km to go, Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) were also distanced as Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) was the next rider to lead the Visma train in front.

Kuss pulled off the front with 7.8km to go, leaving Davide Piganzoli (Visma | Lease a Bike) to deliver the final pull for Vingegaard. 

Piganzoli's efforts saw Mathys Rondel, Michael Storer (Tudor) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek) slip through the trap door too, leaving Vingegaard, Piganzoli, Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos). 

The race-winning move came with 6.6km to go. Gall briefly tried to follow Vingegaard's acceleration, but the Austrian had to sit back down in the saddle as Vingegaard soared into the distance.

Arensman, Bernal and Hindley stuck together and were joined by Piganzoli after the Italian recovered from his final lead-out efforts, and Gee-West was also able to bridge across.  

Gall was swept up by the quintet with 5km to go, but Vingegaard had already built an advantage that was stretching out towards a minute. 

Inside the final 2km, Arensman pushed on from the chase group, taking Gall and Hindley with him, but Vingegaard was in his own realm in front.