As it happened: Redemption at the last in Giro d'Italia stage 21 sprint finale as jerseys are decided in Rome
The sprinters conclude the race with 131km and eight laps of a Rome circuit
Bongiorno and welcome to the 21st and final stage of the men's Giro d'Italia 2026 as the riders head into Rome. First, some procession, prosecco and photos before some rapid laps around the 'Eternal City'.
Jerseys:
Pink - Jonas Vingegaard (TVL)
Purple - Paul Magnier (SOQ)
Blue - Giulio Ciccone (LTK)
White - Afonso Eulálio (TBV)
Other competitions:
Int sprint - Manuele Tarozzi (BCF)
Red Bull KM - Igor Arrieta (UAD)
Fuga - Diego Pablo Sevilla (PTM)
Team - Visma-Lease a Bike (TVL)
Relive the action from stage 20 before we move towards looking at today's final stage...
>>> Giro d'Italia: Jonas Vingegaard soars to fifth victory on stage 21 atop Piancavallo
Today's stage is a flat one but not easy. The final circuit has plenty of twists and turns. The organisers have said that they will not neutralise the race like they did in Milan, though.
The final lap has plenty of difficulties and will test the riders as they strive to reach the finish. This is actually much more dangerous than the circuit in Milan.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG have shed light on what happened in Jhonatan Narváez's crash and abandon...
The band is playing at the start as the riders wait to start the very long procession out to the coast and back to the city again.
All the riders in the leader's jerseys are all decked out in custom kits, bikes, helmets, gloves, socks as well. Jonas Vingegaard's pink bike is also laced with all of his Grand Tour stage and overall wins on the frame.
Neutral start
The riders roll out of the start with lots of smiles, especially Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) who has had an absolutely incredible race.
One non-starter
Sean Flynn (Picnic-PostNL)
The British rider picked up an infection overnight after making it all the way through and even flying to Rome last night.
Here is the fresh look for Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) who has had a superb race as well...
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) gets a stunning metallic blue paint job after he wins the mountains classification for the third time in his career...
Afonso Eulálio also gets his special bike with a gorgeous white Bianchi.
Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-Visit Malta) wins the Fuga classification. He has been out front of the peloton for 735km. He took it by over 100km on Mattia Bais, his teammate.
120km to go
About 10km into the day. The jerseys have had a photo together, the riders have been sharing Haribo, Visma-Lease a Bike have had their photo and now it is Decathlon-CMA CGM's turn. With the 'NoSecco' flowing.
Just under 10km to the intermediate sprint in Fontana dello Zodiaco with the peloton starting to up the tempo. Bahrain Victorious getting their photos done realise they need to get a little bit of a wriggle on to get back on.
It is a very special moment for Vingegaard as he is about to win the Giro and adds the final piece of the Grand Tour puzzle before a certain Slovenian managed it...
The average speed so far is just over 25 kph. It is a very very slow pace so far.
The riders are now 30 minutes behind the race schedule.
Visma-Lease a Bike have started upping the tempo finally. They've gone from 18kph to 60kph at a snap of the fingers, or push of the pedals that is.
Attack
Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre)
The Italian goes clear to confirm his intermediate sprint classification victory with his just nine points on Mattia Bais (Polti-Visit Malta) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Bais now attack as well.
It was actually Filippo Turconi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) protecting the lead of Tarozzi and he did that successfully with the 12 points taken by Turconi.
Visma retake control as they head back to the city and the final circuit. They are riding at around 50kph now so much better to possibly close in on the 30 minute delay in schedule they have.
Manuele Tarozzi wins the intermediate sprint classification.
Intermediate sprint (Fontana dello Zodiaco)
1. Turconi (BCF) 12pts
2. Maestri (PTM) 8pts
3. Silva (XAT) 5pts
4. Marcellusi (BCF) 3pts
5. Tarozzi (BCF) 1pt
Tim Rex back riding on the front yet again for Visma with Vingegaard slotted safely in the wheels. Vingegaard decked out in pink, of course. He is the only one wearing black shorts instead of the jersey colour, though.
It was all smiles and bubbles for Visma before they made it to the coast. Now they are working hard to keep Vingegaard safe.
There's been a very good boy on the side of the road as well, doing a great job at keeping up with the Giro peloton...
Teams and jersey wearers had their photos done earlier, Soudal-Quickstep have had a cracker of a race with Magnier despite that little scare from Narváez but the Ecuadorian missed his chance to get a good gap and then abandoned leaving the young Frenchman to take the jersey.
Afonso Eulálio and his Bahrain Victorious team have also had a dream race. A long stint in pink for the Portuguese rider and then in white all the way to the finish plus a top six in GC. Also a stage win from Alec Segaert and a ninth in GC for Damiano Caruso as well.
Entrance to circuit
The race now enter the circuit and passes the Colosseum on this beautiful circuit that, in my opinion, is much more beautiful than the final stage of the Tour de France.
The first look at the finishing circuit really shows how very technical it is. And it is a tricky uphill sprint that will bring riders like Ben Turner (Netcompany-Ineos) into the race.
Multiple teams now challenging for the front with Soudal-Quickstep pushing to split things with other teams as some attacks try to go clear. Soudal-Quickstep have Magnier but they are also keen to get involved in the aggression.
The racing is really on now with various attacks as Tudor try to go. The pace broke about 20 riders away.
Attack
Nico Denz (RBH)
The German former Giro stage winner goes solo with 68km to go. The split in the bunch is stitched back together but the German rouleur goes clear. He has Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Larry Warbasse (Tudor) and Einer Rubio (Movistar) with the latter hoping to be up there for the Red Bull KM.
That move is brought back with a new move done by Netcompany-Ineos.
Attack
Ben Turner (NCI)
That is an interesting move as he has been up there in the sprints but is going solo here to maybe open things up for Filippo Ganna to go later in the stage.
Turner is joined by Maltese rider Andrea Mifsud for Polti-Visit Malta and they hold just 12" on the peloton.
60km to go
Mifsud and Turner have 16" on the peloton now. Soudal-Quickstep, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and XDS-Astana lead the peloton.
The podium battle at this year's race wasn't about the pink jersey with Vingegaard being head and shoulders above the rest. But, Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) battled hard for the second and third steps...
The riders are coming up to the Red Bull KM with Rubio, Arrieta, Tarozzi, Eulálio and Magli all in with a chance to take this, but with Turner and Mifsud out front and new attacks from Uno-X Mobility and Lotto-Intermarché mean this is going to be difficult.
Movistar are leading out Rubio as they get closer to Turner and Mifsud in the Red Bull KM. Arrieta is also up to the front with Tarozzi.
Igor Arrieta and UAE Team Emirates-XRG dominate that with the top three locked out by them and Arrieta takes the max points and wins the Red Bull Kilometre with new attacks coming off the front.
Mechanical
Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Not the best timing for the rider in third overall but he should make it back in again.
Five laps to go
Hindley gets back in after his issue with his entire team coming back to help him get towards the front of the bunch again as the pace is absolutely rapid. They come through the finish line with five laps to go.
Attack
Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United)
The French team are one of the few who have a full lineup in Rome and they are using one of them here with the ever combative Rochas launching a move as they crossed the finish line.
Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech) joins Rochas at the front of the race but the peloton are just 10" behind.
Puncture
Tomáš Kopecký (Unibet Rose Rockets)
The 26 year old calmly takes a new bike and sets his power meter and sets off.
There are apparently at least three punctures every lap in the peloton.
Four laps to go
Bayer and Rochas have pulled their gap out to 14" but they won't be out there for much longer.
30km to go
Bayer and Rochas have 30" on the peloton as the sprint teams don't want to tempt any new attacks. That said, it has dropped down to 16" again.
More attacks burst out of the peloton!
Three laps to go
Remi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United) is launching and joins Bayer and Rochas. Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek) as well.
Mechanical
Ben Turner (Netcompany-Ineos)
He gets a rear wheel change and will probably be out of it now.
Campenaerts and Cavagna are working flat out with Sobrero and Rochas sitting in and the rest dropped. 25km to go and this makes the race pace shoot up even higher as they take 8" on the bunch as the blue touch paper is lit!
Rochas took a moment at the back but is also now giving his all in this leading quad. Sobrero sitting on. Soudal-Quickstep leads the peloton at 14".
Soudal-Quickstep will be seeing Magnier become the second youngest winner of the points classification ever at the Giro since Giuseppe Saronni.
20km to go
Soudal-Quickstep are really pushing with four of their rider. Rochas is done and dropped as, at the back, Turner gets back in after his issues.
Multiple other teams are now coming up with Netcompany-Ineos moving up en masse.
Two laps to go
Soudal-Quickstep are sprinting to close this down but more attacks come as the gap shrinks!
The peloton splits with Magnier, Milan, Hindley, Ganna and Groenewegen are all involved.
Attack!
Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos)
Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek)
Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-Quickstep)
The TT superstar isn't being given an inch by the sprinter teams with Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) trying to bridge with Max Walscheid leading a small Lidl-Trek train in a small group that has Milan as well as Magnier involved.
It looks like the peloton is being stitched back together as Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre) attacks on his home roads as the only rider from Rome in the Giro peloton but Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet-Rose-Rockets) brings him back.
Ganna is pushing hard but Sobrero and Stuyven are locked onto his wheel. Stuyven will surely easily take the win if this goes all the way. They have 13" with 12km to go.
Picnic-PostNL and Unibet Rose Rockets are leading the peloton but there is no organisation at all. The gap is growing to 18" now! Ganna could be towing Stuyven or Sobrero to a stage win here.
10km to go
The gap continues growing to 20"! Ganna is flying but Sobrero and Stuyven look calm and collected in the wheel.
One lap to go!
Ganna leads the group with Sobrero and Stuyven as Tudor also now comes to the front for Luca Mozzato. Groupama-FDJ United, Unibet Rose Rockets and Picnic-PostNL are pushing but more attacks come.
The peloton are coming back very fast with the gap dropping by 6" to 14" with 8km to go. Ganna takes a sketchy route through a roundabout but can't shake his rivals as Picnic-PostNL continue to push hard behind with Warren Barguil.
7km to go now and 12" gap. Unibet Rose Rockets return to the front again with the stronger riders as the entire team comes to the front.
6km to go and it stays around 14" now. Lidl-Trek now starting to move up. Decathlon-CMA CGM and NSN come up for Lund Andresen and Strong.
5km to go
The leading trio have 10" on the peloton with a tactical headache for Lidl-Trek as they need to sort the leadout for Milan but have Sobrero out front, even though he will not beat Stuyven in a sprint on paper.
Lukáš Kubiš back on the front and the gap is down to 7" with 4km to go. Groenewegen is primed in his train led by the Slovakian champion.
Kubiš has done a wonderful turn and he is about to make the catch with 5" at 3km to go.
The leaders are caught! What a ride by Lukáš Kubiš who closes things down as Polti-Visit Malta attacks.
Attack
Mirco Maestri (Polti-Visit Malta)
He doesn't get far as Unibet Rose Rockets take control but Lidl-Trek is sat waiting for their moment along with Soudal-Quickstep.
2km to go with Decathlon-CMA CGM now coming up for Lund Andresen with Soudal-Quickstep, Lidl-Trek and Unibet Rose Rockets working hard.
Flamme Rouge!
The final 1000 metres of the Giro d'Italia 2026 sees Soudal-Quickstep take over as Groenewegen battles with former teammate Walscheid for Magnier's wheel.
500 metres to go.
Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek finally takes a stage as he wins stage 21 of the Giro d'Italia 2026 after an absolutely perfect ride.
Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike wins the Giro d'Italia 2026.
Vingegaard doesn't need a phone call today as he gets to celebrate with his wife and children in person with them all wearing pink.
Final jerseys:
Pink, GC - Jonas Vingegaard (TVL)
Purple, points - Paul Magnier (SOQ)
Blue, KOM - Giulio Ciccone (LTK)
White, youth - Afonso Eulálio (TBV)
Other competitions:
Int sprint - Manuele Tarozzi (BCF)
Red Bull KM - Igor Arrieta (UAD)
Fuga (most kms in break) - Diego Pablo Sevilla (PTM)
Team - Visma-Lease a Bike
Milan took the win as Groenewegen faded to fourth after launching first. The amazing spirnts by Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Visit Malta) and Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ United) who took second and third with perfect kicks but Milan just head the horsepower. Magnier got bumped out of the stage by the barriers tighetening and finished 11th on the day.
Let's take a look back at this amazing race over the three weeks with the first week starting off in Bulgaria then heading to southern Italy with some superb stages along the way.
Stage 1, won by Paul Magnier in a sprint.
Stage 2, won by Thomas Silva in a surprise reduced bunch sprint
Stage 3, another sprint, another win for Magnier
Stage 4, Jhonatan Narváez began his dominance
Stage 5, the epic break day saw Igor Arrieta win in a huge ding dong battle with Afonso Eulálio as his stint in pink begins
Stage 6, Davide Ballerini took a poetic win as he rolled back the clock as the big names crashed in Naples
Stage 7, it began for Jonas Vingegaard with his first win but Eulálio keeps pink
Stage 8, Narváez wins again from a breakaway
Stage 9, Vingegaard ended week one with a win, but not pink!
Week two saw the race really start to take shape.
Stage 10, Filippo Ganna took his ITT chance by huge margin with Eulálio clinging onto pink
Stage 11, back at it again, Narváez wins and begins to threaten Magnier's points jersey
Stage 12, Alec Segaert continues Bahrain Victorious' dream Giro with a late attack to win
Stage 13, Alberto Bettiol takes a dream stage with late attack in breakaway
Stage 14, Vingegaard finally takes pink with a stage win on Pila after a Alpine epic
Stage 15, the sprint in Milan wasn't to be as Fredrik Dversnes took the win
The final week came and Vingegaard stamped his authority onto the race.
Stage 16, Vingegaard immediately takes his chance to win in pink
Stage 17, Danish delight continued with emotional break success for Michael Valgren
Stage 18, Magnier retook points lead with powerful show of defiance in Pieve di Soligo
Stage 19, ever faithful domestique Sepp Kuss completed his Grand Tour stage win set but breaks Giulio Ciccone's heart
Stage 20, final mountain stage and one final dominant display from Vingegaard
Stage 21, Jonathan Milan finally gets his win as Vingegaard takes the overall win
This is the first time that all the jersey winners, GC, points, mountains and youth have all won the pink jersey at some point in the race.
A very special moment for Milan who didn't get the win in Milan with the break stealing the stage but the big Italian stormed to victory in Rome.
It has been a journey and a half for Afonso Eulálio of Bahrain Victorious. Nine days in pink that wasn't meant to happen. He was meant to be there to support Santiago Buitrago, but with the Colombian leader crashing out in that awful crash on stage 2 in Bulgaria things changed.
He went into a break, crashed with Arrieta also crashing and the two of them chasing each other in a chaotic and amazing finale, Arrieta took the win with Eulálio going into pink. Nine days in pink then came for him and he showed he had amazing form.
Losing the jersey to Vingegaard was inevitable but white was the new goal. Davide Piganzoli (Visma-Lease a Bike) pushed him all the way but the smiley Portuguese rider kept it and took an amazing sixth in the GC.
No stage wins for Giulio Ciccone. He did get an emotional stage in pink before it was taken from him by Eulálio in the break. But, he did have a huge task ahead as he went for the blue jersey. He was so far behind Vingegaard in the KOM battle but the 19th stage was the big moment for him to take the jersey including the Cima Coppi on the Passo Giau.
It was always going to be him from day one. A dominant display from Paul Magnier despite the challenge by Jhonatan Narváez. The Ecuadorian champion couldn't stay in the race with a bizarre incident and the jersey was all but confirmed for Magnier.
But the man of the race is, of course, Jonas Vingegaard at Visma-Lease a Bike with five stage wins and the amazing overall victory.
And here is the final podium.
1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
2. Felix Gall (Decathlon-CMA CGM)
3. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
(Plus Jonas' two kids)
That brings our live updates of the Giro d'Italia 2026 for the men to an end, but don't forget that the women's race is well underway. An unpredictable stage to come tomorrow so make sure to follow along with our live page for the rest of this week! But, for now, thank you for joining us and have a great rest of your day. Ciao!
