Little happened on the 200 kilometres from Camaiore to San Gimignano beforehand, but this was probably due to the fact that everyone was aware that the final gravel sector would be decisive. And so it was. Van der Poel went on the offensive early on, but was caught again by Del Toro with Pellizzari on his rear wheel. "I was afraid of losing today," said van der Poel openly. In the end, it was just a few centimetres in an uphill sprint that decided victory or third place. But in comparison with the two 22-year-old youngsters, the 31-year-old, who is riding the Tirreno in preparation for his big goals, the Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix monuments, was still able to hold his own.

It was the 58th win of his road career, the second in three days of racing this year. "It was pretty impressive to ride over the gravel. I tried to stay out of trouble and my team did a good job. I think it was nice to see it on TV and I enjoyed it too. It was actually a beautiful finish, but also very tough. I didn't really wait for Del Toro and Pellizzari, they just came back, but I slipped in a corner and lost my chain," said van der Poel, describing a tricky scene in the final, in which his outstanding bike control once again saved him from a crash. "To win, you also need a bit of luck," he added.

Del Toro takes the lead in the overall standings

But the new overall leader Del Toro, who leads the classification by three seconds ahead of Pellizzari, was also satisfied "very pleased with how the final went. It was important to avoid a crash on the last corner. It was a super long sprint and I'm happy to take the jersey. It's a great feeling to be in this position. Many riders are close together in the overall standings, Pellizzari is the closest, but I assume that someone new will join them."

Pellizzari's team-mate Primoz Roglic is also still within reach in fifth place overall, 18 seconds behind. He reached the day's finish 17 seconds behind Santiago Buitrago, Antonio Tiberi (both Bahrain-Victorious), Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost), but is still a few seconds ahead of the rest of the competition thanks to a better time trial.

This won't change too much on stage 3 either. The stage tends to be more suitable for sprinters with a good head for heights than for climbers. There are one or two - uncategorised - climbs in the programme. Overall, however, it shouldn't be difficult enough to make the difference here.

>> Tirreno-Adriatico 2026: Route and stages in detail

Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 - Results of the 2nd stage

How the 2nd stage of Tirreno-Adriatico 2026 went

Without Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Intermarché), stage 2 began with a thrilling finale. Four riders, two Spaniards and two Italians, from small teams, of which Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) was the most prominent, covered the first 130 kilometres without intermediate classifications with a maximum lead of four minutes. Alessandro Iacchi (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) secured the sprint classification, shortly afterwards Diego Pablo Sevilla (Team Polti VisitMalta) took the only mountain classification of the day and thus also the mountain jersey, as no points were awarded the day before.

With 38 kilometres to go, the group was set, as the pace in the peloton was quite brisk, as the preparations among the teams for the decisive gravel sector in the finale had already begun and the big teams were positioned at the front.

Van der Poel attacks, is brought back and still wins

It then started to rain before the finale. And then it went into the decisive gravel sector, 7 kilometres before the finish. Van der Poel quickly broke away. Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), who was initially able to keep up, crashed because a spectator ran in front of his bike. Del Toro and Pellizarri went in pursuit and made it back to van der Poel with 4 kilometres to go. The gap between the trio and the chasing riders increased to one minute. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) also crashed at the back.

By the end of the gravel sector, however, the gap had shrunk back to around 20 seconds. However, the trio were still to decide the victory among themselves. On the uphill with slippery stone slabs, it was Pellizzari who opened the sprint 180 metres before the line. However, neither van der Poel nor Del Toro were able to shake him off. Both were ultimately able to counter the Italian, but even Del Toro was unable to shake van der Poel's victory.