What Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) is on the mountain in this Tour of Italy, Magnier is in the clean bunch sprint: unbeatable. The 22-year-old Frenchman won in Pieve di Soligo after 171 kilometres ahead of Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain - Victorious) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl - Trek) in an uphill sprint. Although the stage was classified as flat, the steep climbing section on the Muro di Ca' del Poggio ten kilometres before the finish meant that there were doubts as to whether the sprinters - as so often in the course of the Giro - would perhaps fail at the final hurdle.
But the fast men and their helper didn't let the gap get too big. "At the bottom of the climb, I didn't think I would win, but there were still a lot of team-mates around me at the top of the climb, so I had a chance of winning," said Magnier after the race. "I'm grateful to the whole team for giving me so much confidence, because this morning I thought I would just make it into the Grupetto. This is a surprise. I'm proud to take this win for the whole team."
Classification riders take it easy ahead of tough final weekend
Magnier is also back in the points jersey, which he was able to take from Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates - XRG). His lead in the classification is now just under 50 points. "I'm very happy to have the Maglia Ciclamino back. It was a tough battle with Jhonatan. The next two stages will be very tough with lots of metres of climbing, I have to make it to the finish and I'm pretty confident that I'll succeed."
Meanwhile, there was nothing to fight for in the overall standings. Like the rest of the top 10, Vingegaard crossed the finish line at the same time as the day's winner and continues to lead the classification ahead of Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany INEOS) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe). This constellation will change tomorrow and the day after. The 19th stage is the queen stage of the tour with over 5000 metres of climbing and the Cima Coppi, and the 20th stage also ends with a mountain finish.
Giro d'Italia 2026 - Results of the 18th stage
Stage 18: Fai della Paganella - Pieve di Soligo
Giro d'Italia 2026: Stage 18, Fai della Paganella - Pieve di Soligo
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soudal Quick-Step | 03:46:50 |
| 2 | Bahrain - Victorious | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | Lidl - Trek | +00:00:00 |
| 4 | Alpecin - Premier Tech | +00:00:00 |
| 5 | NSN Cycling Team | +00:00:00 |
| 6 | XDS Astana Team | +00:00:00 |
How the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2026 went
Even on what was supposed to be an easy day, the leading group was well contested. It took almost 70 kilometres before the group of the day was able to establish itself. The Polti-VisitMalta duo of Mattias Bais and Andrea Mifsud, who had been riding ahead of the peloton for some time, were joined by James Shaw (EF Education - EasyPost) and Jonas Geens (Alpecin - Premier Tech). However, the gap quickly grew to almost three minutes by the time they reached the first mountain classification (3rd category).
However, this was also the maximum. Towards the intermediate sprint 36 kilometres before the finish, the difference fell below one minute again, which gave Narvaez hope of collecting points for the Ciclamino jersey there. His team also worked with him. However, the group rode over the line and Narvaez took a point from the peloton.
The gap at the Muro di Ca' del Poggio remains small
While three of the breakaway riders were dropped 21 kilometres from the finish, Geens did not want to give up just yet. The Belgian saved himself over the Red Bull kilometre to the foot of the Muro di Ca' del Poggio, where he was dropped eleven kilometres from the finish. Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain - Victorious), who had crashed earlier in the day and then had problems getting back into the peloton, attacked on the 1100 metre climb, which was up to 19 per cent steep.
Visma and Vingegaard followed, so that the peloton split up around the middle of the climb. The classification riders were in the first group, followed about 15 seconds behind by the sprinters who were hoping to win the stage. With 3.8 kilometres to go, the two groups came together again, with only Eulalio and Johannes Kulset (Uno-X Mobility) left at the front. They were then caught 1300 metres before the finish.
And so it came to the sprint. Jasper Stuyven launched the sprint on slightly uphill terrain for Magnier, who took his chance and sprinted to victory ahead of Zambanini and Milan.
