OFFICIAL Stage 18 Results
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Gamers!
STAGE Grade: A-
I rate today’s stage an A-. The entire stage went nothing like I expected — it was one big surprise. Not much happened during much of it, but at least we had pretty scenery to look at. And the final climb and ensuing bunch sprint was worth the effort of sitting through the previous three hours of low-key racing.
Route: 4/5 GC: 1/5 Tactics: 3/5 Sprint: 5/5 Surprises: 5/5
Well, you can’t make this up. A stage that looked like a large breakaway situation turned into a bunch sprint. I had it wrong, so did many others. But I was schooled today by several other experts.
One: Soudal Quick-Step was adamant when asked if they were going to ride for Paul Magnier today. No, absolutely not. That tells you one thing: almost certainly, they were planning to ride for Paul Magnier. You ask a Belgian about their team tactics, they’ll do whatever they can to give you the wrong answer.
Two: the effort up that Muro di Ca' del Poggio was two, three minutes. Guess who can produce the most watts for that amount of time? Sprinters, like Jonathan Milan and Paul Magnier. You’re not really going to drop them. As long as the peloton can control the breakaway, this is a bunch-sprint kind of day.
I didn’t see it that way, but looking back: the organizers had classified this as a flat stage. Fifty points for the winner, the same as Rome on Sunday. A lot of people knew, but a lot of people didn’t know. I was part of that second group.
Soudal Quick-Step knew. They 100% planned for this. They put Jasper Stuyven in front of Magnier before the big right-hand turn, 250 meters from the finish. Then Stuyven led out, a lane-and-a-half from the barrier through the left-hand bend. When it was time for Magnier to kick, Stuyven drifted right a little. Enough room for Magnier to get through, but Milan had to go the long way around Stuyven and would not recover from that disadvantage. Cycling is a team sport. Soudal Quick-Step won the race today.
At the time I’m writing this, Stuyven had not been relegated yet. He might — he gave Alessandro Pinarello a gentle shove. It’s not allowed, but understandable. Stuyven was coming up on the barrier side, just as Pinerallo pulled out. Do two wrongs make a right? Pinarello left his lane and thus created that situation. I would have done what Stuyven did, but we have seen riders penalized for less.
Of course, it’s the kind of infraction that doesn’t mean a thing. Magnier still wins the stage, and Stuyven doesn’t care about his 12th place.
Yesterday, Mattia Bais and Alessandro Tonelli were ordered to chase the breakaway after Polti – VisitMalta had missed the boat. Today, Diego Pable Sevilla was given that order, all by himself. The gap was 40 seconds. Impossible. He tried for just three minutes. The team boss must have been in a good mood, Sevilla sat up and went back to the peloton.
In the end it didn’t matter. The only real breakaway had representation from two of our riders: Mattia Bais and Andrea Mifsud, the Maltese rider. They took the KOM points on the first climb, ensuring 1,100 euros in prize money for the daily KOM competition. Total prize money for our focus team is now 38,201 euros; seventh in that competition, ahead of many of the big teams.
Watch the final kilometers HERE.
Watch the TNT Sports highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Spoiler alert: there were no changes in the standings today.
Team Grace took a big step towards final victory with a stage win today. Most points from the stage, most points overall. In second were Team Same, most riders in the Top-25 (four). Team Ansel managed third, including most points from classifications.
Team Amalia and their sprinters took fourth today. Behind them were Team Charles in fifth. The rest missed the boat: Team Tadej in sixth, Team Hugo in seventh, and Team Felix in eighth.
The next two days will decide the general classification in the 2026 Giro d’Italia — and our game, probably. Friday’s stage will be a climbing bonanza: four category 2 climbs, one category 1 climb, and the Cima Coppi of this year’s race, the Passo Giau. No snows this time on the Passo Giau, but 9.9 kilometers at 9.3% is for the best climbers only. What I mean is: Jonas Vingegaard will win this stage, as if he’s Tadej Pogačar. The real fight will be behind him. Felix Gall has proven to be the second best climber, but he’s only 24 seconds ahead of Thymen Arensman and those 24 seconds are all bonuses. Mathematically, the two are fairly equal. Jai Hindley is just 33 seconds behind Arensman and he has looked strong in the mountains.
These riders have a choice to make: stay close to Vingegaard as long as possible, and risk blowing up? Or have eyes only for each other? That will affect the race and I can’t predict what they will do. Regardless, this is the stage you don’t want to miss. And there will be ski lifts left and right, many of which I have ridden, many of which I have not but wish I had. You don’t want to miss those, either!
Standings after stage 18:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Grace* |
2549 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
2443 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Sam* |
2296 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Tadej* |
2137 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Charles* |
2110 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Amalia* |
2090 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Hugo* |
1967 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Felix* |
1701 |
8 |
0 |
Standings after stage 18 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Grace* |
2549 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
2443 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Fran |
2415 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Amelia |
2361 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Julie |
2358 |
5 |
0 |
|
6 |
Team Doug |
2303 |
6 |
0 |
|
7 |
Team Sam* |
2296 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Craig |
2259 |
10 |
2 |
|
9 |
Team Laurens |
2236 |
9 |
0 |
|
10 |
Team Corsa |
2232 |
11 |
1 |
|
11 |
Team Kent |
2212 |
8 |
-3 |
|
12 |
Team Paul |
2146 |
13 |
1 |
|
13 |
Team Tadej* |
2137 |
12 |
-1 |
|
14 |
Team Charles* |
2110 |
14 |
0 |
|
15 |
Team Amalia* |
2090 |
15 |
0 |
|
16 |
Team Zach |
2024 |
17 |
1 |
|
17 |
Team Adam |
1993 |
16 |
-1 |
|
18 |
Team Hugo* |
1967 |
18 |
0 |
|
19 |
Team Jake |
1959 |
19 |
0 |
|
20 |
Team Rob |
1916 |
20 |
0 |
|
21 |
Team Felix* |
1701 |
21 |
0 |
|
22 |
Team Kari |
1672 |
22 |
0 |
|
23 |
Team Kate |
1610 |
23 |
0 |
|
24 |
Team Jonwaine |
1522 |
24 |
0 |
|
25 |
Team Roslyn |
610 |
25 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 18:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
68 |
32 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
48 |
116 |
1974 |
2090 |
|
Team Ansel* |
61 |
44 |
8 |
12 |
0 |
64 |
125 |
2318 |
2443 |
|
Team Charles* |
45 |
40 |
7 |
8 |
0 |
55 |
100 |
2010 |
2110 |
|
Team Felix* |
0 |
27 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
38 |
38 |
1663 |
1701 |
|
Team Grace* |
76 |
40 |
8 |
12 |
3 |
63 |
139 |
2410 |
2549 |
|
Team Hugo* |
26 |
39 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
54 |
80 |
1887 |
1967 |
|
Team Sam* |
76 |
30 |
12 |
9 |
0 |
51 |
127 |
2169 |
2296 |
|
Team Tadej* |
33 |
36 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
50 |
83 |
2054 |
2137 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 18 (including adults):
|
Team Adam |
26 |
37 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
52 |
78 |
1915 |
1993 |
|
Team Amalia* |
68 |
32 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
48 |
116 |
1974 |
2090 |
|
Team Amelia |
33 |
44 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
59 |
92 |
2269 |
2361 |
|
Team Ansel* |
61 |
44 |
8 |
12 |
0 |
64 |
125 |
2318 |
2443 |
|
Team Charles* |
45 |
40 |
7 |
8 |
0 |
55 |
100 |
2010 |
2110 |
|
Team Corsa |
72 |
40 |
8 |
12 |
0 |
60 |
132 |
2100 |
2232 |
|
Team Craig |
90 |
31 |
8 |
12 |
3 |
54 |
144 |
2115 |
2259 |
|
Team Doug |
33 |
44 |
3 |
12 |
3 |
62 |
95 |
2208 |
2303 |
|
Team Felix* |
0 |
27 |
0 |
8 |
3 |
38 |
38 |
1663 |
1701 |
|
Team Fran |
68 |
36 |
8 |
12 |
0 |
56 |
124 |
2291 |
2415 |
|
Team Grace* |
76 |
40 |
8 |
12 |
3 |
63 |
139 |
2410 |
2549 |
|
Team Hugo* |
26 |
39 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
54 |
80 |
1887 |
1967 |
|
Team Jake |
37 |
29 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
44 |
81 |
1878 |
1959 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
22 |
31 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
39 |
61 |
1461 |
1522 |
|
Team Julie |
68 |
44 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
60 |
128 |
2230 |
2358 |
|
Team Kari |
13 |
32 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
44 |
57 |
1615 |
1672 |
|
Team Kate |
27 |
23 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
32 |
59 |
1551 |
1610 |
|
Team Kent |
33 |
44 |
3 |
8 |
0 |
55 |
88 |
2124 |
2212 |
|
Team Laurens |
68 |
33 |
8 |
8 |
1 |
50 |
118 |
2118 |
2236 |
|
Team Paul |
61 |
36 |
8 |
11 |
0 |
55 |
116 |
2030 |
2146 |
|
Team Rob |
26 |
40 |
3 |
12 |
0 |
55 |
81 |
1835 |
1916 |
|
Team Roslyn |
42 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
43 |
567 |
610 |
|
Team Sam* |
76 |
30 |
12 |
9 |
0 |
51 |
127 |
2169 |
2296 |
|
Team Tadej* |
33 |
36 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
50 |
83 |
2054 |
2137 |
|
Team Zach |
68 |
29 |
8 |
12 |
0 |
49 |
117 |
1907 |
2024 |
-Laurens.