Alberto Bettiol swept to XDS-Astana's third stage victory of the Giro d'Italia in Verbania, the Italian showing his strength on the final climb of stage 13 to blow the rest of the break away and solo to glory.
The 32-year-old Tuscan joined Thomas Silva on stage 2 and Davide Ballerini on stage 6 in triumphing for Astana this Giro, and the win is the second Giro stage of his career, following a similar ride from the break on a hilly stage to Stradella in 2021.
Bettiol, who lives just across the border in Switzerland, reeled in and caught Norwegian champion Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) 13km from the line in the final kilometre of the 189km stage's closing hill. He then showed his knowledge of the local roads to race to a 20-second advantage, which he defended all the way to the line.
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Leknessund had no shot of making it back to Bettiol, but he did at least hang on to take second place, 26 seconds back. Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) led home the next group home – four riders rom the initial 15-man breakaway – to round out the podium at 44 seconds.
"Today in theory I won already before the start because I had all my family here and my second family because my girlfriend and all her family are from Verbania, so I consider Verbania my second home," Bettiol said after the win.
"Having all of them – my brother, my father, my mum, and all the people who have always been around me – it was already a victory for me. But winning like this is something I will take with me forever.
"It doesn't matter if it was two years since I won, but if I win like this, I'm happy to win every two years.
Alberto Bettiol celebrates as he crosses the finish line (Image credit: Getty Images)
"I knew every single corner in the last 50km because I train here sometimes. I saw this climb a couple of months ago with a bike, with a motorbike, and I saw the film of the downhill several times. I knew the last kilometre was really really strong.
"I expected somebody from the climbers to attack stronger because this climb is really on the limit for me. But I knew the shape was good, and also I knew the fact that I knew the climb really helped me and that's how I won.
"I'm so happy to have finally with this jersey. I'm happy because Vino really believed in me two years ago and he really wanted me in his team. Finally, I paid him back. I think, in general, that all of my teammates did a really amazing Giro so far, so I'm happy that I can also be part of this amazing Giro d'Italia for us."
The largely flat stage was run off at an average of 48.456 kph, making it the 11th quickest in the history of the Giro d'Italia. That was the speed of Bettiol, though the peloton were somewhat slower, reaching the finish 13 minutes later.
Race leader Afonso Eulálio was second across the line from the peloton behind Bahrain Victorious teammate Damiano Caruso. He continue in the lead on to what is likely to be his final day in the maglia rosa.
The Portuguese rider heads into the mountainous test of stage 14 with a 33-second lead over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), while Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) remains in third place, 2:03 down.
How it unfolded
The pack rides during the 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2026 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia saw the peloton tackle another largely flat route, another day where a pair of hills threatened the sprinters.
The 189km northern run across Piedmont from Alessandria to Verbania was flat for the opening 160km, but the hills of Bieno (2.4km at 5.7%) and Ungiasca (4.7km at 7%), the latter lying 13km from the finish, were likely to play a major part in deciding the day's winner.
The early kilometres of the stage saw attacks fly from a number of riders, including Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), and Chilean champion Vicente Rojas (Bardiani CSF-7 Saber).
It would take 8km for a move to go clear, with Rojas racing away along with Leknessund, former maglia azzurra Diego Pablo Sevilla (Polti-VisitMalta), Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost), Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ United), Larry Warbasse (Tudor), and Mark Donovan (Pinarello-Q36.5).
The break was far from decided however, as Bjerg, Filippo Ganna (Netcompany Ineos), and Stuyven joined in the attacks from behind.
After 20km of racing, and with the leaders just 20 seconds up the road, another group – Bjerg, Stuyven, Bettiol, Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta), and Francesco Busatto (Alpecin-Premier Tech) – jumped clear, eventually linking up with the front of the race 20km later.
By then, Rojas had dropped back to the peloton, leaving 11 riders in the lead with a gap of almost three minutes. Four more riders – Kench and his FDJ teammate Axel Huens plus Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility) and Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché) – came across to make it a break of 15 with 137km to run.
The pink jersey carried by Afonso Eulálio of Bahrain-Victorious rides protected in the peloton (Image credit: Getty Images)
Behind them, Bahrain Victorious and Visma-Lease a Bike hit the front of the peloton, happy to let the move go as the gap grew over five minutes. By the time the break hit the 100km to go marker, their advantage had gone up to nine minutes, and the riders had covered the first two hours at an average speed touching 50kph.
The kilometres on the run towards the final climbs were a quiet affair. Little of note occurred on the flat roads of the Po Valley, and the break raced on to a lead approaching 11 minutes as they hit the final 40km.
The break stuck together over the top of Bieno, with Sevilla grabbing the three mountain points. They held a 11:40 gap at the base of Ungiasca, where Groupama-FDJ United hit the front to set the pace for Kench.
Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility attacks in the chase group (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jacobs peeled off first before Huens pushed the pace, dropping several riders from the group. Kench made his move 2.5km from the top – 15.8km from the line – on the steepest slopes of the hill.
The New Zealander found Bettiol, Valgren, and Leknessund on his wheel, and the Norwegian Champion was the next to make a move, attacking a kilometre further up. Meanwhile, Bettiol gave chase alone, gradually reeling in Leknessund as they neared the top.
Indeed, he made the catch before the summit of the climb, accelerating around the outside of one of the final bends, and blew past before the summit. Leknessund had no answer to Bettiol's acceleration, and the Italian, flying down the descent, swiftly pulled out a 20-second advantage.
Alberto Bettiol strikes on familiar roads (Image credit: Getty Images)
Bettiol raced a perfect descent and then had enough power left over for the flat final 6km. The combination meant he easily held off Leknessund's chase to race into Verbania and claim the ninth victory of his career.
Further back, it was Stuyven who sprinted home to round off the podium, the Belgian holding off Valgren, Donovan, and the man who kicked off the attacks, Kench, to score third.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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