The Giro d'Italia has a long history of housing great breakaway artists, with the likes of Thomas De Gendt and Alessandro De Marchi immediately springing to mind from recent years, even if the latter never did win a stage before retirement.
And while it may seem somewhat of a dying art at GTs, with sprint teams collaborating to ensure their quick men all get a chance, and GC riders like Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard taking every opportunity to impose themselves, one rider will without doubt be flying the flag for la fuga in 2026: Alec Segaert.
"There are some chances for me here in this Giro; I want to play in the breakaway sometimes, yes, and also in the stage 10 time trial, for sure," Segaert, who rides for Bahrain Victorious, told Cyclingnews during the Bulgarian Grande Partenza.
Latest Videos From
"I think there may be better chances in the second part of the Giro, more opportunities for breakaway riders like me, so the time trial is maybe my first big goal, but we'll see."
Having risen through the ranks as a top time trialling prospect, Belgium's Segaert has found his place this season as a man for the breakaways, but also a willing late attacker, putting together an impressive run of results in the Classics for new team Bahrain Victorious.
He finished 15th in the Tour of Flanders and 16th in Paris-Roubaix before heading to altitude camp at Mount Teide in Tenerife. But his most impressive performances came before that at Nokere Koerse, GP de Denain and In Flanders Fields, the renamed Gent-Wevelgem, where on each occasion he entered the final kilometre with the peloton bearing down on him.
Victory only came in Denain for Segart, but it meant he'd gained a reputation for his attacking style, one which followed him even to the opening stage at the Giro, which was due to be, and ended up being, an ordinary sprint, albeit one which was marred by a crash.
"Some guys have already asked me, even on stage 1, on a 100 per cent sprint stage, where I want to attack," he laughed.
"But I hope more riders will do the same, like me, so I'm not alone. Then they won't only watch me – the more guys who also want to attack, the more I can use that as well."
Segaert spoke of some of his inspirations in the peloton, and singled out the two riders whom he bridged across to at In Flanders Fields, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, both former Giro stage winners, as riders he will be trying to emulate when he attacks. But he also made sure to include former teammate and two-time Giro stage winner De Gendt as an example to follow.
"I looked up to a lot of riders, of course, the likes of the big ones in the Classics as well, how they attack in the big stage races, Van Aert and Van der Poel, those guys, but also more climbing types like Thomas De Gendt, who was a real specialist," said Segaert.
"They know how to manage a breakaway, and I tried to learn from these winning breakaways, to try it myself. We didn't do a lot of races together, me and Thomas [De Gendt], but it's just by watching him and hearing some stories that you can learn."
Segart showed the peloton how threatening he could be, even out of the peloton, during some of the big one-day Classics, but he's expecting his now trademark method of attack to perhaps be more fruitful in the Grand Tour arena.
"Of course, we'll have a peloton that's sometimes split into two or even more pieces at times. The GC guys, there are some stages that they don't really care about, and they leave for the breakaway," he said. "If you're in that breakaway, then your chances are already maybe one in 20, instead of one in 70. So like this, your chances get much bigger."
With the peloton reaching Italy late on Sunday night, the racing is paused for a rest/travel day, but when action kicks off again for two lumpy stages in the South, Segaert could well make his first moves.
Don't be surprised if the Bahrain Victorious rider launches several raids this week; his competitors are certainly expecting that already, but whether they can bring him back when he does is a completely different question. The 2026 Giro could well be about to witness the birth of a new specialist of la fuga.
Who will challenge Jonas Vingegaard at this year's Giro d'Italia? Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Corsa Rosa. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.
