OFFICIAL Stage 11 Results: Ballerini ABANDONS!
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Gamers!
STAGE Grade: A-
I rate today’s stage a B-. I think my rating system is holding me captive — I enjoyed this stage at the A+ level. But okay, objectively, there wasn’t much impact to the general classification, and there weren’t many surprises either. An A-, then.
Route: 5/5 GC: 2/5 Tactics: 4/5 Sprint: 4/5 Surprises: 1/5
The official start of the stage today was from a standstill. I don’t know why, I usually don’t see that. The peloton takes off for a ceremonial start in town, rolls out to kilometer 0, and then the racing begins.
Today wasn’t like that. At kilometer 0, the peloton stopped, in front of the world’s largest toilet paper factory. Only in Italy.
This chaotic start is probably why Team Polti-VisitMalta missed the
boat. Everyone took off, Giulio Ciccone and a dozen others. Polti and UAE Team
Emirates – XRG had lost the battle. Both needed to have riders in the front,
and eventually they started working together to chase down Ciccone, Davide Ballerini,
Christian Scaroni, and the others. Diego Pablo Sevilla was pulling the entire
peloton for miles. You may be the leader in the fuga competition,
cycling is still a team sport.
Even Marco Maestri tried to bridge, solo. He failed. But Polti would succeed in
the end. Can you already guess why?
Eleven men in the breakaway. One of them, Giulio Ciccone. Do we understand what that means? Ten men in that breakaway are thinking: for the next 170 kilometers, the peloton will be chasing us. Too many teams are not here, they will not give up. So we’ll have to ride as fast as possible. And then Ciccone will beat us.
Maybe Scaroni liked this breakaway. He had a teammate, Ballerini. And he could beat Ciccone straight up, possibly.
But make no mistake about it: this breakaway was as good as doomed. Because of Ciccone. And because Jhonatan Narváez was not in it. This, kids, is what we call reading the race.
It took 35 minutes, but the peloton did catch that breakaway. What followed was another 40 minutes of attacks and counterattacks. The peloton racing through the beautiful countryside in Tuscany and Liguria — I rated this stage an A+ after the first hour.
I’ve used up most of my word count on just the first hour, but I thought it was important to show how a race like this unfolds. I can write a few thousand more words on the next 150 kilometers. Some of you might even read that. But I’ll skip a bit.
Eighteen kilometers from the finish was the climb to Cogorno: 4.6 kilometers at 6.7%. The steepest part, about halfway through, 13%. All this, just an uncategorized climb. No KOM points, just the Red Bull KM, 350 meters after the top. Only in Italy. It was here that Enric Mas made his move. Only Narváez could follow. The two worked together, the chasers worked together, the chasers chasing the chasers worked together. There was bike racing everywhere, but in the end, Narváez beat Mas in a straightforward sprint. Bike race over.
Both Mattia Bais and Ludovico Crescioli managed to get into the final breakaway on behalf of our focus team. Sevilla’s work paid off. Crescioli is 22, his first year on a Pro team, and he’s already finished 10th in stage 5 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia.
Crescioli lost the sprint to Scaroni. It looks like he tried to surprise Scaroni, that didn’t work, and Scaroni’s legs were a trizillion times better than Crescioli’s. Bais, for his part, finished unseen, just ten seconds ahead of the peloton.
Besides the prize money, this also earned our team 60 UCI points. A very good day for Team Polti-VisitMalta!
Watch the final kilometers HERE.
Watch the TNT Sports highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Davide Ballerini’s abandon hurts Team Tadej. He had scored 65 points so far, and probably would have grabbed a few more in the second half of the 2026 Giro d’Italia.
Spoiler alert: there were no changes in the standings after today’s stage.
It was a small-points kind of day, anyway. Team Charles won by a large margin, thanks to having both Jhonatan Narváez and Aleksandr Vlasov. Everyone else came in behind them, kind of strung out like a peloton in full chase. Team Ansel, Team Sam, Team Amalia, Team Grace, Team Hugo, and Team Felix. Almost dropped but still holding in today were Team Tadej in eighth place.
On Thursday the Giro will finish in Novi Liguri. A special place to me, and many cycling fans. A hundred years ago, this area was extremely, unspeakably poor. It was here, in poverty, that two young men were born. Costante Girardengo and Sante Pollastri. Best friends when they grew up, they chose different paths to fame.
They are known in Italy as il bandito e il campione. The bandit and the champion. One found a way out of poverty by becoming the greatest Italian cyclist until Fausto Coppi. The word campionissimo, grand champion, was coined in Girardengo’s honor. Nine times the Italian champion, six times the winner of Milano-Sanremo, 30 times a Giro stage winner.
I know less about banditry than about cycling, but Pollastri was the biggest bandit Italy had seen at that time. Bank robberies, shootouts with the carabinieri, and an absolute folk hero. And he never forgot his friend, Girardengo. In 1927, hiding from the Italian police, he went to the velodrome to see Girardengo race. He expected friendship, but he found the law. Arrested, tried, and sentenced to decades in prison.
Girardengo died in 1978, Pollastri just a few months later. A story so compelling that Francesco di Gregori recorded a song about it. And now we’re getting to the point of why I’m telling you this. The second line of that song speaks of the two boys and “un’unica passione per la bicicleta.” A singular passion for bicycles. Singular in that it bonded both, and singular in that it was their main passion.
And that, kids, is what I wish you to have. Passion. I don’t care what your passion is, just have a passion, and live your passion. Life is always worth living if you follow your passion. Girardengo did. Pollastri did.
By the way, almost nothing about the story of the champion and the bandit is remotely factual. Girardengo and Pollastri existed, Pollastri was arrested at the velodrome. But they almost certainly never met, and they certainly weren’t childhood friends. But the non-factual story matches the soul of these people, and is therefore more true than any fact can be true.
Oh, and Jonathan Milan will win stage 12. Fact.
Standings after stage 11:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Grace* |
1563 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1423 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Sam* |
1407 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Tadej* |
1309 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Amalia* |
1224 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Charles* |
1201 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Hugo* |
1110 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Felix* |
1046 |
8 |
0 |
Standings after stage 11 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Grace* |
1563 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Fran |
1468 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Amelia |
1436 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Ansel* |
1423 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Sam* |
1407 |
6 |
1 |
|
6 |
Team Julie |
1382 |
5 |
-1 |
|
7 |
Team Craig |
1368 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Laurens |
1364 |
8 |
0 |
|
9 |
Team Doug |
1342 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Kent |
1317 |
12 |
2 |
|
11 |
Team Corsa |
1309 |
11 |
0 |
|
Team Tadej* |
1309 |
10 |
-1 |
|
|
13 |
Team Amalia* |
1224 |
15 |
2 |
|
14 |
Team Paul |
1220 |
13 |
-1 |
|
15 |
Team Zach |
1209 |
14 |
-1 |
|
16 |
Team Charles* |
1201 |
16 |
0 |
|
17 |
Team Jake |
1181 |
17 |
0 |
|
18 |
Team Adam |
1121 |
18 |
0 |
|
19 |
Team Hugo* |
1110 |
19 |
0 |
|
20 |
Team Rob |
1104 |
20 |
0 |
|
21 |
Team Felix* |
1046 |
21 |
0 |
|
22 |
Team Kate |
929 |
22 |
0 |
|
23 |
Team Kari |
925 |
23 |
0 |
|
24 |
Team Jonwaine |
812 |
24 |
0 |
|
25 |
Team Roslyn |
359 |
25 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 11:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
42 |
36 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
56 |
98 |
1126 |
1224 |
|
Team Ansel* |
42 |
44 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
64 |
106 |
1317 |
1423 |
|
Team Charles* |
69 |
40 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
59 |
128 |
1073 |
1201 |
|
Team Felix* |
44 |
29 |
0 |
8 |
6 |
43 |
87 |
959 |
1046 |
|
Team Grace* |
32 |
40 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
62 |
94 |
1469 |
1563 |
|
Team Hugo* |
39 |
34 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
49 |
88 |
1022 |
1110 |
|
Team Sam* |
47 |
34 |
12 |
5 |
4 |
55 |
102 |
1305 |
1407 |
|
Team Tadej* |
23 |
36 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
53 |
76 |
1233 |
1309 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 11 (including adults):
|
Team Adam |
23 |
37 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
52 |
75 |
1046 |
1121 |
|
Team Amalia* |
42 |
36 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
56 |
98 |
1126 |
1224 |
|
Team Amelia |
12 |
44 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
59 |
71 |
1365 |
1436 |
|
Team Ansel* |
42 |
44 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
64 |
106 |
1317 |
1423 |
|
Team Charles* |
69 |
40 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
59 |
128 |
1073 |
1201 |
|
Team Corsa |
34 |
38 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
54 |
88 |
1221 |
1309 |
|
Team Craig |
29 |
30 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
52 |
81 |
1287 |
1368 |
|
Team Doug |
42 |
44 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
61 |
103 |
1239 |
1342 |
|
Team Felix* |
44 |
29 |
0 |
8 |
6 |
43 |
87 |
959 |
1046 |
|
Team Fran |
33 |
36 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
56 |
89 |
1379 |
1468 |
|
Team Grace* |
32 |
40 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
62 |
94 |
1469 |
1563 |
|
Team Hugo* |
39 |
34 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
49 |
88 |
1022 |
1110 |
|
Team Jake |
73 |
29 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
44 |
117 |
1064 |
1181 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
48 |
32 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
40 |
88 |
724 |
812 |
|
Team Julie |
12 |
44 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
64 |
76 |
1306 |
1382 |
|
Team Kari |
46 |
30 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
38 |
84 |
841 |
925 |
|
Team Kate |
38 |
29 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
38 |
76 |
853 |
929 |
|
Team Kent |
62 |
44 |
3 |
8 |
4 |
59 |
121 |
1196 |
1317 |
|
Team Laurens |
46 |
35 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
55 |
101 |
1263 |
1364 |
|
Team Paul |
20 |
31 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
49 |
69 |
1151 |
1220 |
|
Team Rob |
42 |
38 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
49 |
91 |
1013 |
1104 |
|
Team Roslyn |
22 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
337 |
359 |
|
Team Sam* |
47 |
34 |
12 |
5 |
4 |
55 |
102 |
1305 |
1407 |
|
Team Tadej* |
23 |
36 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
53 |
76 |
1233 |
1309 |
|
Team Zach |
10 |
31 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
51 |
61 |
1148 |
1209 |
-Laurens.