OFFICIAL Stage 14 Results: Scaroni ABANDONS!
Laurens De Jong
Hello, Giro d’Italia Gamers!
STAGE Grade: B+
I rate today’s stage a B+. The best part was the scenery. The TV coverage took a whole minute to show the futuristic looking ski lift station on the Pila. The announcer even read out from his script: “there are thirteen ski lifts here.” Other than that, though, it was a mediocre affair, again. Now we know without a doubt that Jonas Vingegaard will win the 2026 Giro d’Italia. We know Felix Gall will be second. We have a battle for third place to look forward to.
Route: 5/5 GC: 3/5 Tactics: 3/5 Sprint: 1/5 Surprises: 2/5
Cycling is a team sport. Every Team Jumbo – Lease-a-Bike rider contributed to Jonas Vingegaard’s third stage win in this year’s Giro. Tim Rex pulled the peloton for 100 kilometers. Cycling is suffering: if you can find his facial expression at 51.8 kilometers in the broadcast, that proves both of these axioms of cycling.
But okay, after Rex, it was Victor Campenaerts, then Sepp Kuss, then Davide Piganzoli. And finally Vingegaard himself, and that was the end of that story. There’s not much more I can say about it. Vingegaard nor Visma has much competition in this race.
Giulio Ciccone finally got into the breakaway. I thought he had a chance. He was also the most attacking rider in that breakaway. But Visma was ruthless and they executed perfectly. None of the breakaway riders had a chance. Ciccone finished 24th, together with Enric Mas. No matter how many times I watch a mountain top finish like this, I’m always astonished how the riders in the breakaway end up finish well behind the top riders. A group of three from the breakaway finished eighth and onward, two minutes behind Vingegaard. The breakaway doesn’t have a chance.
The Red Bull KM was placed just at the start of the final climb. Mark Donovan had been pulling the group for a while, hardening the race for his teammate David de la Cruz, in his wheel. When they got to the Red Bull KM — time bonuses, points, and prize money to be had — Donovan expected it to be no contest. But Jan Hirt, only half a minute behind de la Cruz in the general standings (17th), decided he wanted the bonus seconds. Donovan took offense and cut him off; it cost him a 500 euro fine and 4 penalty points.
I can see Donovan’s point. It’s not illegal to sprint for bonuses, but geez. We’ve all heard of wheel suckers, but this was ridiculous. It’s one thing to do nothing all day and then win the stage, it’s a different thing to sit in the breakaway and then sprint for a few seconds.
But okay, de la Cruz won the Red Bull KM and bonus seconds, and 1500 euros.
I call it a big breakaway, but on the climb to Saint-Barthélémy there were just two riders ahead and a big chase group. In that latter group were two of our focus team’s riders: Alessandro Tonelli and Ludovico Crescioli. Tonelli was dropped during that same climb, and the peloton caught him in the valley. It was actually on TV, that’s how mediocre the stage was today. A Polti rider caught by the peloton was one of the highlights.
A few years ago, we followed to riders in our focus segment. Davide Piganzoli rode for our team, then called Polti-Kometa. He worked his butt off for three weeks to finished thirteenth. Most people would not notice a thirteenth place, or remember it. But Piganzoli was Vingegaard’s master domestique today.
On the other side in 2024 was Giulio Pellizzari. He chose a different approach, hunting stage wins and taking second in the stage to Monte Pana; behind Tadej Pogačar. Pellizzari rode for our rivals VF Group - Bardiani CSF – Faizanè at the time and I thought he had done more for his future than Piganzoli. He now rides for Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe, either supporting Jai Hindley or going for day successes.
In 2026 Piganzoli and Pellizzari are good friends. They rent an apartment together, train together when possible. They finished together today, Piganzoli fourth and Pellizzari fifth. Without our past attention to Polti, that would have been meaningless to us.
So I wonder what kind of a rider Crescioli is. He’s 22, and Piganzoli was 21 when we followed him. At 56.5 kilometers, climbing Lin Noir, Crescioli is seen by the motards; struggling to hold on to the group and on his radio. What was he saying? “I need a gel?” I mean, there were no team tactics at this point.
I don’t know and after that, I never saw him again. He finished 34th. I don’t think that’s Piganzoli level, but if we see him on a World Tour team in two years, we can say we knew him when he was still riding for Polti.
Watch the final kilometers HERE.
Watch the TNT Sports highlights HERE.
Read the TNT Sports report HERE.
Christian Scaroni’s abandon hurts Team Felix, Team Grace, and Team Tadej. He had earned them 129 points so far and was set to extend that score. But he faded earlier this week, and dropped out with a sore throat today.
Spoiler alert: only Team Amalia and Team Charles made moves today — they trade places.
Today was not a small-points day. Team Ansel took the win, narrowing Team Grace’s lead in the standings. Team Grace did take second. Next were Team Charles, beating Team Hugo. In fifth were Team Felix, just ahead of Team Tadej in sixth and Team Amalia in seventh. Eighth place was for Team Sam. Nobody missed the boat today, everyone scored big points!
Sunday’s race, before the rest day, will be decided in a bunch sprint. Today’s climbing stage hurt a lot of legs, and it will be brutally hot in Milan on Sunday. My question is: who is affected by those things the least? I believe this could be a Dylan Groenewegen kind of day. I think he has had the best lead-outs and it is only a matter of time for the people’s favorite team to win a stage. But Magnier has won everything so far, so why bet against him? And Jonathan Milan still wants that Maglia Ciclamino. One of the three, for sure. I’ll be sentimental about it and tip Groenewegen to win stage 15 of the 2026 Giro d’Italia.
Standings after stage 14:
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Grace* |
1963 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1853 |
2 |
0 |
|
3 |
Team Sam* |
1766 |
3 |
0 |
|
4 |
Team Tadej* |
1669 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Charles* |
1596 |
6 |
1 |
|
6 |
Team Amalia* |
1581 |
5 |
-1 |
|
7 |
Team Hugo* |
1505 |
7 |
0 |
|
8 |
Team Felix* |
1375 |
8 |
0 |
Standings after stage 14 (including adults):
|
Rank |
Name |
Points |
WAS |
MOVES |
|
1 |
Team Grace* |
1963 |
1 |
0 |
|
2 |
Team Ansel* |
1853 |
3 |
1 |
|
3 |
Team Fran |
1852 |
2 |
-1 |
|
4 |
Team Amelia |
1834 |
4 |
0 |
|
5 |
Team Julie |
1785 |
6 |
1 |
|
6 |
Team Sam* |
1766 |
5 |
-1 |
|
7 |
Team Doug |
1762 |
9 |
2 |
|
8 |
Team Craig |
1716 |
7 |
-1 |
|
9 |
Team Laurens |
1715 |
8 |
-1 |
|
10 |
Team Kent |
1709 |
10 |
0 |
|
11 |
Team Tadej* |
1669 |
11 |
0 |
|
12 |
Team Corsa |
1653 |
12 |
0 |
|
13 |
Team Paul |
1608 |
13 |
0 |
|
14 |
Team Charles* |
1596 |
15 |
1 |
|
15 |
Team Amalia* |
1581 |
14 |
-1 |
|
16 |
Team Adam |
1535 |
18 |
2 |
|
17 |
Team Zach |
1529 |
16 |
-1 |
|
18 |
Team Hugo* |
1505 |
19 |
1 |
|
19 |
Team Jake |
1504 |
17 |
-2 |
|
20 |
Team Rob |
1446 |
20 |
0 |
|
21 |
Team Felix* |
1375 |
21 |
0 |
|
22 |
Team Kate |
1287 |
22 |
0 |
|
23 |
Team Kari |
1258 |
23 |
0 |
|
24 |
Team Jonwaine |
1163 |
24 |
0 |
|
25 |
Team Roslyn |
450 |
25 |
0 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 14:
|
Name |
STAGE RESULTS |
PINK JERSEY |
PURPLE JERSEY |
BLUE JERSEY |
WHITE JERSEY |
POINTS/CLASS |
TOTAL |
PREVIOUS |
CUM. TOTAL |
|
Team Amalia* |
165 |
37 |
7 |
7 |
4 |
55 |
220 |
1361 |
1581 |
|
Team Ansel* |
207 |
45 |
7 |
10 |
4 |
66 |
273 |
1580 |
1853 |
|
Team Charles* |
179 |
41 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
60 |
239 |
1357 |
1596 |
|
Team Felix* |
182 |
32 |
0 |
7 |
6 |
45 |
227 |
1148 |
1375 |
|
Team Grace* |
188 |
41 |
7 |
10 |
6 |
64 |
252 |
1711 |
1963 |
|
Team Hugo* |
178 |
38 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
55 |
233 |
1272 |
1505 |
|
Team Sam* |
150 |
35 |
12 |
8 |
4 |
59 |
209 |
1557 |
1766 |
|
Team Tadej* |
169 |
38 |
3 |
7 |
6 |
54 |
223 |
1446 |
1669 |
Complete breakdown of points from stage 14 (including adults):
|
Team Adam |
182 |
39 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
56 |
238 |
1297 |
1535 |
|
Team Amalia* |
165 |
37 |
7 |
7 |
4 |
55 |
220 |
1361 |
1581 |
|
Team Amelia |
194 |
45 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
62 |
256 |
1578 |
1834 |
|
Team Ansel* |
207 |
45 |
7 |
10 |
4 |
66 |
273 |
1580 |
1853 |
|
Team Charles* |
179 |
41 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
60 |
239 |
1357 |
1596 |
|
Team Corsa |
159 |
36 |
7 |
10 |
0 |
53 |
212 |
1441 |
1653 |
|
Team Craig |
157 |
34 |
7 |
10 |
6 |
57 |
214 |
1502 |
1716 |
|
Team Doug |
208 |
45 |
3 |
10 |
6 |
64 |
272 |
1490 |
1762 |
|
Team Felix* |
182 |
32 |
0 |
7 |
6 |
45 |
227 |
1148 |
1375 |
|
Team Fran |
176 |
38 |
7 |
10 |
4 |
59 |
235 |
1617 |
1852 |
|
Team Grace* |
188 |
41 |
7 |
10 |
6 |
64 |
252 |
1711 |
1963 |
|
Team Hugo* |
178 |
38 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
55 |
233 |
1272 |
1505 |
|
Team Jake |
157 |
32 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
49 |
206 |
1298 |
1504 |
|
Team Jonwaine |
171 |
31 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
38 |
209 |
954 |
1163 |
|
Team Julie |
192 |
45 |
7 |
7 |
4 |
63 |
255 |
1530 |
1785 |
|
Team Kari |
153 |
29 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
39 |
192 |
1066 |
1258 |
|
Team Kate |
124 |
29 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
43 |
167 |
1120 |
1287 |
|
Team Kent |
193 |
45 |
3 |
7 |
4 |
59 |
252 |
1457 |
1709 |
|
Team Laurens |
163 |
35 |
7 |
7 |
4 |
53 |
216 |
1499 |
1715 |
|
Team Paul |
190 |
34 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
53 |
243 |
1365 |
1608 |
|
Team Rob |
166 |
36 |
3 |
10 |
0 |
49 |
215 |
1231 |
1446 |
|
Team Roslyn |
18 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
432 |
450 |
|
Team Sam* |
150 |
35 |
12 |
8 |
4 |
59 |
209 |
1557 |
1766 |
|
Team Tadej* |
169 |
38 |
3 |
7 |
6 |
54 |
223 |
1446 |
1669 |
|
Team Zach |
148 |
32 |
7 |
10 |
4 |
53 |
201 |
1328 |
1529 |
-Laurens.