Giro della Toscana: Giulio Pellizzari takes the win with a final kilometre solo attack

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his fifth win of the 2026 season, stealing away from a late breakaway in the final kilometre to win the Giro della Toscana-Memorial Alfredo Martini.

Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) out-paced Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) in the sprint for the remaining podium positions.

The Italian was part of a ten-rider move that escaped on the final of two ascents of the Monte Serra, and was nearly caught in the flat run-in. The group had only a few seconds on a larger chase as Pellizzari made his move, but had done enough to fight for the win.

"On both climbs, while I was going up, I was saying: 'I'm never coming back here, it's too ... Let's just say even the numbers I was seeing weren't the best," Pellizzari said.

"But I knew the race would be won in the final section, and I tried to save as much energy as possible to give it everything in the last kilometer."

Another motivation was the selection for the UCI Road World Championships. Pellizzari said he spoke to the national team coach Roberto Amadio.

"We talked this morning, and last night too... He said he wanted a sign, so I hope I gave him one."

How it unfolded

The 189.4km Giro della Toscana kicked off from Pontedera with two ascents of the 8.4km Monte Serra on tap before a flat finish.

Oliver Bleddyn (Jayco AlUla), Hugo de la Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH), Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Davide Bais (Polti-VisitMalta) and Matteo Spreafico (Mg.K Vis Costruzioni e Ambiente) made up the early breakaway and gained three minutes very quickly.

The breakaway's lead began to drop rapidly as the race approached the first ascent of Monte Serra halfway through the race, and was down to just seconds at the foot of the climb.

Bleddyn and Spreafico were the first to be dropped, and soon Bais had to let go as De la Calle led over the summit. Despite a few more attacks, the peloton was intact on the first passage of the finish line with 52km to go.

The peloton was on a furious pace en route to the final ascent of Monte Serra, with riders being spat out the back as soon as the road tilted upward.

Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) launched a furious attack with 32km to go on the climb, and was joined by Mikkel Honoré (EF Education EasyPost), Alessandro Fancellu (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies).

Jan Castellon (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) scrambled across first, then Michael Storer (Tudor) attacked from behind to bridge across. When Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) surged to do the same, he was joined by Antoni Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Over the top, Honoré made a solo move and summited first, followed by those nine riders. He was eventually caught to make a ten-rider breakaway.

The much-reduced peloton was not far behind, but the breakaway was more cohesive than the chasers, and went into the final 5km with 22 seconds.

However, as riders started being cagey in the breakaway and refusing to take turns, the leaders' gap rapidly began to evaporate and the 16-rider chase group was closing in.

Through a series of roundabouts, the chasers then began looking at each other, and with 2km to go, the two groups were still eight seconds apart.

Storer and Tiberi took turns forcing the pace in the breakaway, but the leaders went under the red kite together with seven seconds on the chase.

Then, Pellizzari put in a stinging attack and opened up a solid gap.

Results

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