Giro d'Italia: Jonas Vingegaard completes Grand Tour collection as Jonathan Milan grabs a last-chance victory on stage 21

Jonathan Milan won the final stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia in a chaotic sprint finish, as Jonas Vingegaard stayed safe on the technical laps around Rome to claim his first maglia rosa.

The Lidl-Trek man launched his sprint with 150 metres to go on the final rise to the line and powered away from his rivals to take a long-awaited stage win, his first of this Giro d’Italia.

Fellow Italian Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-VisitMalta) finished a distant second to Milan, with Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ United), in third place.

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Points classification winner Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) ran out of position and finished in 11th place.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard claimed the pink jersey on stage 14 and dominated the race throughout, winning five stages as he became the eighth rider in history to win all three Grand Tours during his career.

Attacks flew on the final, twisting circuit, which featured a couple of testing rises. The most dangerous-looking move came from Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos), who accelerated with 18km to go and held 20 seconds going into the final 10km with Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep) and Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek) sitting in his wheel.

That move was neutralised by the sprint teams to set up a battle of the fast-men on the streets of Rome. Milan positioned himself perfectly in the final few hundred metres and looked a level above the rest as Magnier was boxed in.

After failing to win throughout the Giro d'Italia, Milan was delighted to take the victory on his last opportunity.

"I'm super happy to end the Giro in this way," Milan said afterwards. "I'm really proud for all we achieved in this Giro."

"We could say that we could do better in some stages, but the important thing] is that we always give our best. We were always in the front, fighting and trying to achieve the biggest goal. With Derek [Gee-West], with Ciccone, we did amazing results and I was missing a victory."

"I'm just super happy to win in Rome," he added.

It was a tricky finale for the sprint teams to negotiate, with several powerful moves requiring the teams to use up domestiques. In the end, it all came back together for the final dash to the line as anticipated.

"Sobrero had to cover some breaks and to help us to position," Milan said. "The moment that Ganna did the attack, he followed and it was perfect to have him there so we didn't have to pull behind. It was perfect."

"It was a really big team effort today. I'm really happy to pay them back with this victory."

Without this victory, Milan and his Lidl-Trek team looked set to complete the 2026 Giro d'Italia without a stage win. The pressure was mounting, particularly on Milan's shoulders after being bested by Magnier throughout.

"It's beautiful, you know [to win this stage]. After three weeks that we are looking for this, winning the last stage in Rome means that we were keeping [our heads], we never give up. We always keep fighting for the victory."

How it unfolded

The first order of business on the final stage of any Giro d'Italia is a processional lap around the outskirts of Roma, giving the riders opportunities to sip prosecco and pose for photographers.

Once the formalities were dealt with, Bardiani-CSF-7 Saber's Filippo Turconi was the first rider to break clear of the peloton. He stayed out front alone for long enough to take the intermediate sprint at Fontana dello Zodiaco before being caught.

With 84km left, the peloton entered the local circuit around Roma; a twisting, technical course, with cobbles and a short rise to the finish. Several aggressors attempted to break clear, but no serious move succeeded until Ben Turner (Netcompany-Ineos) and Andrea Mifsud (Polti-VisitMalta) attacked with 64km to go.

They stayed away with a small advantage for ten kilometres before getting caught, allowing Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to take the Red Bull Kilometre.

With 44km to go, Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ United) moved ahead of the peloton, holding a mere 15 second lead.

Several riders attempted to bridge over to the front during a short climb with 27km to go. Rochas' team mate Remi Cavagna attacked across, alongside Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Matteo Sobrero (Lidl-Trek), while Bayer was dropped.

Clearly concerned by the power of the breakaway, Soudal-QuickStep burned through their men to bring the gap down. The trio were brought back with 18km to go, immediately encouraging Filippo Ganna (Netcompany-Ineos) to attack.

Sobrero stuck in Ganna's wheel with Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep) behind him but neither were riding through as they covered for their sprint leaders Milan and Magnier. Others attempted to latch on, but couldn't keep up with Ganna as he powered on.

Ganna continued his effort without support from his companions, stretching the group's advantage out to 20 seconds with 10km remaining. That gap was reduced in the following 5km under the impetus of Unibet-Rose Rockets, but the leaders held ten seconds with 5km to go. The move was neutralised 2km later and apart from a brief attack by Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta), the peloton was finally in position for the expected sprint finale.

Lidl-Trek, Unibet-Rose Rocket and Soudal-QuickStep were present at the front going into the final kilometre ready to set up their sprinters. Magnier looked best-placed heading into the final sprint but it was Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet-Rose Rockets) who moved first, closing the door on the young Frenchman as he drifted to the left.

Sitting on Groenewegen's wheel, Milan was able to accelerate from behind and carried too much speed to be challenged. Lonardi followed Milan to take second and Penhoët emerged in third place with Groenewegen just behind in fourth..

Vingegaard, meanwhile, rode alongside his team towards the back of the peloton in order to keep safe as he completed his first Giro d'Italia victory.

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