Friday’s thirteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia was held in the Piedmont region and turned out to be a lucky one for the breakaway, which grabbed a commanding lead as the GC contenders kept their powder dry for Saturday’s mountains madness. Alberto Bettiol was the strongest fugitive, taking his second career Giro stage and XDS-Astana’s third of the 109th edition. He’s the third Italian with a 2026 Giro victory. Afonso Eulálio stayed safe in pink.
The Course
The sting was in the tail of Friday’s 189 km from Alessandria to Verbania. As on Thursday, teams would try to drop the sprinters on the two classified climbs right at the end, with Cat. 3 Ungiasca’s 4.7 km of 7 percent, and final 2 km at 10.7 percent, the place where this would likely happen.
Fifteen riders charged up the road to form the day’s breakaway. Twenty percent of this gang was Groupama-FDJ. With 100 km to go, its gap was 9:00 and growing. It seemed Friday would go the escape’s way. The fugitives climbed Cat. 4 Bieno intact, Diego Pablo Savilla the first over. Friday’s Red Bull Kilometre was just at the base of the Cat. 3 Ungiasca, Axel Huens claiming the six seconds. Huens’ pace streamlined the group.
Norwegian champion Andreas Leknessund used the steepest part of the climb to go solo. Alberto Bettiol was his closest chaser.
Bettiol caught and dispatched Leknessund and drove his advantage home.
Saturday shoehorns five climbs into 133 km including a brutal Cat. 1 summit finish at Pila.
2026 Giro d’Italia, Stage 13
1) Alberto Bettiol (Italy/XDS-Astana) 3:51:33
2) Andreas Leknessund (Norway/Uno-X) +0:26
3) Jasper Stuyven (Belgium/Soudal-QuickStep)
2026 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Afonso Eulálio (Portugal/Bahrain-Victorious)
2) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Visma-Lease a Bike) +0:33
3) Thymen Arensman (The Netherlands/Netcompany-Ineos) +2:03
4) Felix Gall (Austria/Decathlon-CMA-CGM) +2:30
8) Derek Gee West (Canada/Lidl-Trek) +3:40
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