Sprinter teams gamble and lose: Breakaway wins the Giro

Fredrik Dversnes won the 15th stage in Milan at the Giro d'Italia as a breakaway rider.

24 May 2026

From: dpa

The Norwegian rider won the sprint after 157 kilometers on the Corso Venezia, beating a four-man breakaway group ahead of Italians Mirco Maestri and Martin Marcellusi. The peloton, which charged forward, couldn't catch the group on the finishing straight. Sprinter Jonathan Milan of the German Lidl team will have to wait a little longer for his long-awaited stage win.

Top favorite Jonas Vingegaard defended the pink jersey of the overall leader, which he had won in the Alps on Saturday, without any problems on the flat 15th stage. Behind the Dane remain the previous leader, Afonso Eulálio of Portugal (2:26 minutes behind), and the Austrian Felix Gall (2:50).

The sprinters reached the finish line shortly after the four breakaway riders. © APA/afp / LUCA BETTINI

In temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, a breakaway group formed shortly after the start in Voghera. On the route through Lombardy, the sprinters' teams allowed them to go free, but kept the gap stable at around two minutes. The final stage consisted of four laps of a circuit in the fashion capital, all at a high pace. With the last real corner two kilometers from the finish, everything seemed set for a sprint finish. But the peloton misjudged the situation and couldn't reel in the breakaway.

Another mountain challenge after the rest day

Vingegaard aims to win the Giro d'Italia, the third of cycling's three Grand Tours, after his victories in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. For the Dane and his rivals, the main objective on Pentecost Sunday was simply to finish without crashing. After the second rest day, a mountain finish in Switzerland awaits the riders on Tuesday. The Giro concludes in Rome on May 31st.

Keywords cycling Tour of Italy