Vingegaard on verge of Giro d’Italia glory after powering to penultimate stage

  • Overall leader leaves nothing to chance on final climb

  • Dane will claim first Giro by reaching Rome finish

Jonas Vingegaard all but won the Giro d’Italia on Saturday and his attention will soon turn to the Tour de France as he attempts to become the ninth man to complete the Giro-Tour double.

The Dane wrapped up the first part in style, soloing to victory atop Piancavallo at the end of the 20th and penultimate stage to extend his overall lead to more than five minutes from Felix Gall. Jai Hindley remained in third, 6min 25sec behind Vingegaard.

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Kuss climbs to Giro d’Italia stage 19 win as Vingegaard maintains overall lead

  • Kuss completes grand tour stage win trilogy

  • Vingegaard stays 4min 3sec clear of Gall in the GC

Teammates Sepp Kuss and Jonas Vingegaard dominated the high mountains for Visma-Lease a Bike on Friday as the former claimed a historic solo victory on stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia, and the latter firmly defended his overall lead.

By winning the brutal mountain stage atop Piani di Pezzè in the Dolomites, Kuss became the 116th rider to complete the Grand Tour stage victory trilogy, with the American adding an Italian success to wins at the Tour de France in 2021 and the Vuelta a España in 2019 and 2023.

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Pain is the spur: Rafael Nadal reveals chronic foot problem plagued career

  • ‘Tennis became a race against time’ after 2005 diagnosis

  • ‘The suffering was less than my passion,’ says tennis great

Rafael Nadal has revealed he spent most of his career in pain as he willed himself to play through a chronic foot injury and went on to win 22 grand slam titles while spending two decades ruling men’s tennis alongside Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

The Spaniard, who retired in 2024, said he took immense risks with his health to keep his career going, after a Netflix series called Rafa provided an in-depth look into his physical and mental struggles to pursue greatness.

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Magnier snatches stage 18 bunch sprint to seal hat-trick of Giro d’Italia wins

  • The 22-year-old Frenchman set up by teammate Stuyven

  • Vingegaard keeps pink jersey after attack on final climb

Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step completed a hat-trick of victories in this Giro d’Italia by winning a bunch sprint on stage 18 in Pieve di Soligo.

The 22-year-old Frenchman was perfectly set up by his teammate Jasper Stuyven in the final few high-speed turns and powered to the line, after 171km of racing, ahead of two Italian sprinters.

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Rico Verhoeven seeks rematch with Oleksandr Usyk after contentious stoppage

  • Converted kickboxer takes unified champion deep in WBC title bout

  • End of round bell may have rung before referee stopped fight

Rico Verhoeven, the Dutch former kickboxer who has switched to boxing, wants an apology as well as a rematch, after being stopped one second before the end of the penultimate round in a WBC title bout with unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday.

The stoppage was controversial, with Verhoeven feeling he could have continued and some replays suggesting the bell may have rung before the referee signalled the end of the fight — only Verhoeven’s second since switching to boxing — at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

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Jonas Vingegaard obliterates Giro d’Italia rivals with stage 16 win in Swiss Alps

  • Dane collects fourth stage victory of this year’s race

  • Gall comes in second, with Hindley in third place

Jonas Vingegaard underlined his dominance on uphill finishes at the Giro d’Italia, launching a solo attack on the climb to Carì to claim victory on stage 16. It was the Dane’s fourth stage win of the race and further tightened his hold on the leader’s jersey, with overall honours now looking increasingly assured.

On Monday’s rest day, Vingegaard declared his desire to win a stage while wearing the pink jersey, and quickly followed up that promise in Switzerland on the 113km ride from Bellinzona. His lead at the top is now more than four minutes.

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Giro d’Italia: Jonas Vingegaard grabs pink jersey with solo summit stage win

  • Dane earns third stage win of this year’s race in Alps

  • Visma-Lease a Bike rider set to win Giro at first attempt

Jonas Vingegaard took the Giro d’Italia leader’s pink jersey for the first time after completing a hat-trick of stage wins, the race favourite soloed to the summit to take stage 14, proving too strong for his rivals in the Alps.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider, already successful on the summit finishes on stages seven and nine and, aiming to become the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours, attacked with less than 5km left of the gruelling 133km ride from Aosta to Pila. The Dane looks set to win the Giro at his first attempt.

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Giro d’Italia: family affair inspires Alberto Bettiol to solo triumph in Verbania

  • Home rider drops Leknessund before surging to win

  • Bettiol: ‘I knew every single corner in the last 50km’

The Italian cyclist Alberto Bettiol attacked at the top of the final climb to ride solo to victory on stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia in Verbania on Friday, five years after his last stage win.

Bettiol, who also soloed to win a stage in 2021, caught Andreas Leknessund as they reached the Ungiasca summit and left the Norwegian in his wake before powering away on the descent to the shore of Lake Maggiore. The Italian took a quick glance over his shoulder before raising his arms long before the line in celebration, and his girlfriend, Lisa Finetti, was there to hug him after the finish.

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Alec Segaert’s attack plan pays off as Afonso Eulálio stretches overall Giro d’Italia lead

  • Belgian ‘always planned’ late attack that sealed stage 12

  • Jonas Vingegaard now 33 seconds off the pink jersey

Alec Segaert stole a march to win stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday and his Bahrain Victorious teammate Afonso Eulálio snatched bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint to extend his overall lead.

The 175-km ride from Imperia to Novi Ligure looked to be headed for a sprint finish before the Belgian rider Segaert made his telling move 3km from the line and held off the chasing pack to take the win on his Giro debut.

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Giro d’Italia: Narváez storms past Mas for third win as Eulálio keeps pink jersey

  • Ecuadorean collects stage victory No 3 of this edition

  • Favourite Vingegaard stays 27 seconds behind leader

Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narváez edged out the Spaniard Enric Mas at the end of Wednesday’s stage 11 to win his third stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia as Afonso Eulálio retained the leader’s pink jersey.

Narváez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and Mas (Movistar) were left to battle for the win after leaving the breakaway group on the final climb and Mas made the first move, only for the Ecuadorian to overtake him before the line. The Italian Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana) won the race for third place at the end of the entertaining 195km ride from Porcari to Chiavari.

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Vingegaard fails to snatch pink jersey as Ganna triumphs in Giro time trial

  • Vingegaard cuts gap on overall leader Eulálio to 27sec

  • Ganna wins stage 10 in 45min 53sec

Filippo Ganna sailed to an easy victory in stage 10’s individual time trial at the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday,. The pre-race favourite, Jonas Vingegaard, failed in his bid to take the overall lead as Afonso Eulálio battled hard to keep the pink jersey.

No one could come close to Ganna, a time trial specialist who completed the flat, 42km (26-mile) route along the Tuscan coast from Viareggio to Massa in 45min 53sec. Ganna had little to worry about while waiting for confirmation of his eighth Giro stage win – seven of those have come in time trials.

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Giro d’Italia: Vingegaard climbs away to take stage nine win while Eulálio stays in pink

  • Danish rider wins for second time in three days

  • Eulálio clings on after summit finish at Corno alle Scale

Jonas Vingegaard triumphed for the second time in three days to win stage nine of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, with the Dane going solo at the end of the climb to the finish, while Afonso Eulálio remains in the overall lead.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider tracked race rival Felix Gall (Decathlon) when the Austrian attacked near the end of the 184km stage from Cervia to Corno alle Scale, but Vingegaard powered away in the closing kilometre, with his Visma teammate Davide Piganzoli coming in third.

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Giro d’Italia: Jonas Vingegaard makes statement to conquer Blockhaus summit

  • Dane goes for broke 5km from top for stage seven win

  • Decathlon’s Felix Gall is only other rider to get close

Jonas Vingegaard, the pre-race favourite, proved his Giro d’Italia credentials by going alone to conquer the Blockhaus summit finish and win stage seven on Friday as the Dane made his first telling move of this year’s race.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider, on his Giro debut, went for broke with just over 5km to the top, with the Austrian Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) the only rider to get close as he came in 13 seconds behind the winner.

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Giro d’Italia: Davide Ballerini avoids cobbles chaos to win stage six in Naples

  • Italian rider beats Jasper Stuyven in city centre finish

  • Portugal’s Afonso Eulálio retains overall lead

Davide Ballerini won stage six of the Giro d’Italia as a crash on the cobbles took out several sprint specialists near the finish in Naples on Thursday.

Italian Ballerini (XDS Astana Team) comfortably beat Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven (Soudal Quick-Step) on the city centre finish after a flat 142km ride from Paestum.

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Giro d’Italia: Arrieta wins stage despite wrong turn and fall as Eulálio takes lead

  • Spanish rider prevails in Potenza on chaotic fifth stage

  • Eulálio denied but takes the maglia rosa from Ciccone

Portugal’s Afonso Eulálio seized the overall lead in the Giro d’Italia despite having victory snatched away by Spain’s Igor Arrieta in the final metres of a rain-drenched stage five on Wednesday.

The Bahrain Victorious rider joined Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the front near the summit of the Montagna Grande di Viggiano climb and when Arrieta took a wrong turn he looked certain to take the win. But Arrieta, banging his handlebars in anger, had other ideas and reeled in Eulálio along the finishing straight to win his first Grand Tour stage.

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