The 2026 Giro d'Italia exploded on stage two, with Guillermo Thomas Silva (XDS Astana Team) coming out on top in a messy finale to Veliko Tarnovo / Велико Търново. The Uruguayan rider won the sprint ahead of Florian Stork (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), but only after the bunch caught the three attackers of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché), in the final kilometre.
Giro d'Italia 2026 stage two results
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Vingegaard had launched on the steep final climb up the Lyaskovets Monastery ascent which topped out with 11km to go. Only Pellizzari and Van Eetvelt could follow the pre-race favourite. The trio looked destined to take the stage and the maglia rosa, only to be caught by the charging bunch behind.
All that action came after a huge crash just outside of 20km to go, with the stage being neutralised to allow medical staff to attend to the injured riders. Among those who went down were Jay Vine and Adam Yates (both UAE Team Emirates-XRG) who both won't start on stage three.
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