Vingegaard seals historic Giro triumph as Milan finds redemption in the streets of Rome

Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to victory in Rome on stage 21 of the Giro d’Italia, as Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) sealed the general classification. 

Despite being a stage set up for the sprinters, it was a finale that always hung in the balance, with plenty of opportunistic and tactical attacks forcing the sprinters’ teams to burn matches and control. 

In the end, a dangerous trio of Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek), and Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) was caught late with 3km to go, thanks mainly to the chase of the Unibet Rose Rockets. 

Soudal Quick-Step led out the sprint, and Milan timed his finish to perfection to take his first stage victory of the 2026 Giro ahead of Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta) and Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ United). 

Meanwhile, Vingegaard finished safely in the peloton to win the Giro on debut and seal a fourth Grand Tour of his career following the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023, and the Vuelta a España in 2024. 

In doing so, Vingegaard claimed a wealth of records, most notably becoming the eighth rider in history to win all three Grand Tours—and the first to achieve the feat since Chris Froome at the 2018 Giro.

Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) joined Vingegaard on the final GC podium in Rome, securing his best-ever Grand Tour finish. Meanwhile, 2022 winner Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) rounded out the podium, marking his first Grand Tour top-three finish since his overall victory at La Corsa Rosa.

Driven by his dominant sprinting, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) comfortably sealed the points classification. Giulio Ciccone’s (Lidl-Trek) aggressive racing style earned the Italian his second career mountains classification title, while breakthrough star Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) wrapped up the youth classification to cap a stellar debut Grand Tour.

The stage started with celebrations and a party atmosphere on the approach to the finishing circuit in Rome.

Visma | Lease a Bike would lead the peloton onto the final circuit in Rome, which would be tackled eight times in full. 

Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was on the move with 67km remaining, but the German would shortly be reeled in. 

Through the finish line with seven laps remaining and 66km to go, Ben Turner launched the next attack and was joined by Andrea Mifsud (Polti VisitMalta). The duo would be caught before the Red Bull KM with 53km remaining, and it was Igor Arrieta who claimed the sprint, securing the overall series in the process. 

Next to go were Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United). The duo dangled out in front of the peloton until three laps to go, when Rochas’ teammate Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United) lined out the bunch with an attack through the finish line.

Eventually, the elastic snapped and Rochas, Cavagna, Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike), and Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek) formed a dangerous quartet. Rochas was distanced with 20km to go. 

Soudal Quick-Step had the gap almost closed with two laps to go, but Campenaerts continued to push on. 

This formed a split involving most of the main sprinters, but Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) launched a counterattack, which only Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) and Sobrero followed with 18km to go.

Inside the final 15km, the peloton was briefly disjointed as the splits came back together, but the front trio continued to motor out front. 

On the bell lap with 9.4km to go, the front trio had 19 seconds on the chasing peloton led by Tudor, NSN and the Unibet Rose Rockets. 

The trio were caught thanks to the efforts of the Rockets with 3km to go, and despite a late effort by Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta), the final stage would be decided in the expected fashion: a bunch sprint.