The Giro d’Italia finally reached the high mountains Friday with a brutal summit finish atop Blockhaus, where Jonas Vingegaard claimed his first Giro stage win in his debut Italian Grand Tour. But long before the favourites lit things up behind, it was Canadian Nickolas Zukowsky helping shape the day from the breakaway.
The rider from Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que., slipped into the day’s five-man move and spent most of the 244-km marathon stage on the attack in miserable weather and over 4,500 m of climbing.
A long day in the saddle
“Yeah, I mean, it’s such a long day, you know, there’s only five of us,” Zukowsky said to CyclingPro.net. “It was an interesting composition with Jonathan Milan being there. I’m sure everyone felt the same.”
The former national champ, who rides for Pinarello 36.5 said he arrived at the Giro hoping to animate stages whenever possible.
“I came here and I knew I wanted to give it my all in some stages and go for breakaways,” he said. “Today wasn’t really the day obviously, it’s a hard day, but I just wanted to put on a show.”
A big day for the GC
Friday’s stage through the Apennines featured the first summit finish of the race, a 13.6-km climb averaging 8.4 per cent. The Red Bull Kilometre came partway up Blockhaus, and Zukowsky made sure to target it once the breakaway hit the final ascent.
By then, the move had been reduced to Zukowsky, Diego Sevilla and Jardi Christiaan van der Lee. Zukowsky surged clear to take the sprint bonuses before van der Lee clawed his way back.
“You weren’t just in the escape, you helped make the race today,” the CyclingPro.net commentator said, referencing his attacks.
A helping hand 🤝
Nickolas Zukowsky very kindly shares his lunch with Jack Haig of Netcompany INEOS! 👏 pic.twitter.com/aglU8Cw4FG
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) May 13, 2026
“Yeah, it was fun,” Zukowsky said. “I haven’t been in this position that often on climbs and stuff. So no, it was good fun. Might as well race and have a good time out there.”
Visma takes over
The breakaway’s advantage hovered around three minutes at the base of Blockhaus, but the peloton, driven by Visma – Lease a Bike and later Red Bull, steadily reeled them in. Zukowsky admitted he knew the odds were slipping away before the final climb truly exploded.
“To be honest, on the descent before the final climb,” he said when asked when the dream ended. “We slowed down a lot and I…
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