There was drama aplenty on the 2026 Giro d'Italia's first stage back in Italy. But if Egan Bernal's moment of crisis on the cat.2 Cozzo Tunno climb provided the biggest individual surprise setback of the day, on the plus side, Movistar's ability to outperform their rivals was almost equally unexpected, but no less impressive for all that.
Right from the bottom of the second-category, 15-kilometre Cozzo Tunno, Movistar were present in significant numbers on the front of the bunch. And if all the sprinters bar their own fastman Orluis Aular promptly opted to ease back on the climb, the Spanish WorldTour squad continued to tighten the screws all the same. First they caused two-day race leader Guillermo Silva (XDS-Astana) to crack, and then, much more unexpectedly, a GC heavyweight of the calibre of Netcompany Ineos' Bernal.
Come the summit of the Cozzo Tunno, Movistar still had all their top names on the front, including overall GC contender Enric Mas, who moved up to eighth, as well as former double-Giro stage winner Einer Rubio, Aular and team powerhouse Nelson Oliveira. They continued their long drive all the way down the long descent to the finish at Cosenza.
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Actually taking the victory with Aular would have made for a fairytale ending after all that hard work, but the fact that Movistar were able to take the race by the scruff of its neck for so long and so unexpectedly will have given many of their rivals food for thought.
Visma-Lease a Bike were also present in numbers, too, on the toughest day of the Giro so far, yet Movistar's surprise attempt to ambush the race added an intriguing new factor into the overall battle, at least in the short term.
"The idea was to win the stage with Orluis, we tried, and I think we did a very good job with all our teammates," Oliveira told Eurosport at the finish.
"We all worked very hard, we gave it all for the victory, but the important thing was we tried, we're up there, and we're very motivated."
The way Movistar erupted on the climb was far from being something spontaneous, Oliveira said. "We'd planned it since this morning and we did exactly what had been set out for us to do."
Considered an outside favourite for the podium and with his team gunning initially for the top five overall in Rome for Mas, there is still a lot of the Giro left to race, Oliveira agreed. But hitting the ground running was definitely the ideal way to begin the Giro, even if the win with Aular did not materialize.
"The Giro's just started, there's still a long way to go, we missed out on the victory, but working together was exactly what we wanted to do," Oliveira added.
"A day like this is going to keep us motivated for everything that's still to come."
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