Giro’26 St9: Vingegaard Strikes Again on Corno alle Scale

PEZ Race Report: Jonas Vingegaard is beginning to turn the 2026 Giro d’Italia into a familiar story: wait, watch, and strike when it hurts most. On the long climb to Corno alle Scale, the Dane calmly followed Felix Gall’s ambitious attack before delivering a ruthless counter inside the final kilometer to claim his second stage victory of the race. While Gall impressed and Giulio Pellizzari cracked, maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio once again showed remarkable resilience to keep hold of pink heading into the second rest day.

Rollout from Cervia on the Adriatic Coast – not far from the excellent Oxygen Lifestyle Bike Hotel

Gall threw the first punch, Vingegaard landed the decisive one.

Gall throws the first punch

Behind the front pair, Davide Piganzoli rode to an impressive third place, just ahead of Thymen Arensman, while Giulio Pellizzari — tipped by many as Vingegaard’s biggest challenger before the Giro — attacked and cracked early and hemorrhaged valuable time on a day that reshuffled the pecking order in the mountains.

The Giro’s final test before the second rest day was another uphill finish, though Corno alle Scale (11 km at 5.8%) looked more like a climber’s grind than a summit slugfest. Still, the road had been rising for much of the day, softened only slightly by the earlier ascent of Querciola (11.5 km at 4.2%) before the real business began.

Breakaway Roulette on the Road to the Mountains

The opening move of the day looked innocent enough: Davide Ballerini, Lorenzo Milesi and Edward Planckaert slipped clear while the peloton played the usual cat-and-mouse game behind.

But like every other stage in this Giro — nothing settles quickly.

Attacks continued flying behind the leaders as riders scrambled for the move. At one point, a chasing group appeared destined to bridge across, prompting Planckaert to sit up and wait. Bad move. The counterattack fizzled and was quickly swallowed by the peloton, leaving the Belgian stranded between ambitions.

Finally, a stronger move stuck.

Milesi and Ballerini were joined by Einer Rubio, Tim Naberman, Jonas Geens, Mattia Bais, Martin Marcelussi and Sakarias Koller Løland to form an eight-man escape with enough horsepower to make the bunch pay attention.

Not that they were given much freedom.

Bahrain Victorious — protecting race leader Eulálio — kept the leash tight, but the presence of Decathlon CMA CGM on the front hinted at bigger ambitions. Felix Gall clearly had plans.

Ciccone Lights the Fuse

After a long lull, the race suddenly woke up with 73 kilometers remaining.

Giulio Ciccone, who had cleverly sacrificed time the day before to buy himself freedom, launched from the peloton on a smaller climb. Diego Ulissi and Toon Aerts quickly jumped across, and together the trio began hunting the leaders.

Fifteen kilometers later, mission accomplished.

Now eleven riders strong, the break still held only a narrow advantage as the peloton ramped up the pressure. But by the base of Querciola, Ciccone and company had rebuilt their lead to around two minutes — just enough to start dreaming.

On the climb itself, the front group splintered quickly. Soon only Ciccone, Ulissi, Rubio, Milesi and Aerts remained.

Then Ciccone attacked it again.

Rubio matched the first acceleration, but when the Italian launched again with 7.5 kilometers remaining, the elastic finally stretched. Ciccone opened daylight and briefly looked capable of pulling off something special.

Pellizzari Cracks, Gall Gambles

Behind, the favorites were beginning their own battle.

Visma | Lease a Bike set the early pace on Corno alle Scale, with Victor Campenaerts doing the heavy lifting. But as the gradients bit, one of the Giro’s biggest names unexpectedly faltered.

Giulio Pellizzari cracked.

With more than 3.5 kilometers remaining, the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe rider — widely tipped as Vingegaard’s biggest rival — lost contact and quickly began losing time.

Sensing weakness, Decathlon CMA CGM took over.

Then Gall made his move.

With 2.5 kilometers to race, the Austrian accelerated hard, instantly blowing apart the favorites group. Only Vingegaard could respond. Arensman fought valiantly just behind, while the rest of the GC contenders slipped backwards.

Up front, Gall and Vingegaard swept past Ciccone, whose brave raid was finally over.

But if Gall thought he was dragging Vingegaard into difficulty, he was badly mistaken.

Vingegaard Delivers the Final Blow

The Dane had spent the climb quietly glued to Gall’s rear wheel, showing little emotion and even less urgency.

Then came the final kilometer.

Launching from Gall’s slipstream just after the flamme rouge, Vingegaard accelerated with brutal efficiency, instantly opening a gap that Gall simply couldn’t close.

Game over.

Giro d’Italia 2026 Stage 9 Video Hilights

The Dane crossed the line alone for his second stage victory of this Giro, underlining once again that when the road tilts upward, he remains the man everyone else is chasing. Gall limited the damage impressively, conceding just 12 seconds, while Piganzoli surged late to snatch third ahead of Arensman.

The next rider home? Maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio.

The Bahrain Victorious rider conceded 41 seconds but delivered another resilient performance to keep hold of pink heading into Monday’s well-earned rest day. Better still for the Portuguese revelation, he’ll roll into Tuesday’s time trial still wearing the sport’s most famous jersey.

Rest day arrives. The Giro tension doesn’t.

QUOTES

Speaking seconds after the finish, the stage winner Jonas Vingegaard said: “We didn’t want to pull for the stage win today but we quickly realised that Decathlon wanted to do that. It’s always nice to win. It makes me super happy, also for my teammates who did a super good job. Once I saw the win was reachable I went for it. I’m also very happy for Davide Piganzoli who managed to finish third. He’s a very good guy. I’m not in the Maglia Rosa but in the situation I wanted to be in at this point of the Giro”.

2026 Giro d’Italia Results