To crack Jarno Widar, it was going to take something bold – and today, on the chaotic stage from Fiorenzuola d’Arda to Gavi, the peloton has delivered. In classic U23 fashion, the first hour of racing exploded at an average of 53 km/h with relentless attacks and counters. Then, on the slopes of Passo del Penice, the Maglia Rosa found himself isolated – and his GC rivals didn’t miss the chance.
Midway down the descent, with over 70 km to go, a high-powered break of 11 riders snapped the elastic. Among them were major GC threats: Adam Rafferty (Hagens Berman Jayco), Arno Wallenborn (Tudor), Cesare Chesini (MBH Bank Ballan CSB), Daniel Lima (Israel Premier Tech Academy), Remy Daumas (Groupama-FDJ), Tim Rex (Visma | Lease a Bike Development), Kamiel Eeman (Lotto Development), and more crucially, Matteo Vanhuffel (Picnic PostNL Development), Filippo Turconi (VF Group–Bardiani CSF–Faizanè), Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious Development), and Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull–Bora-hansgrohe)—the latter sitting just 27 seconds off Widar’s lead in third overall.
Caught off-guard, Widar tried to organize a chase, calling on fellow GC hopefuls Jørgen Nordhagen and Adrià Pericas—but the collaboration never came. Realizing the futility, he let the move go. Even more baffling was Lotto Development’s late call to pull Eeman back from the break to help – by then, the leaders were already over two and a half minutes up the road. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Finn, also Red Bull–Bora, played it cool in the bunch while his teammate Tuckwell gunned for the leader’s jersey.
Up front, the break kept pushing, some hunting the stage, others targeting GC. In the finale, it was Adam Rafferty who launched the killer blow, attacking solo like a true finisseur to take the win. Remarkably, after Seth Dunwoody’s triumph yesterday, another rider from Northern Ireland claimed glory, capping off a dream two days for the small UK nation, whose rising stars now include the Rafferty brothers and Dunwoody.
Turconi finished second, with Omrzel in third, but the biggest shake-up came behind them: Tuckwell now leads the race in the Maglia Rosa, holding 26 seconds over Omrzel and 36 on Turconi. Vanhuffel also cracked the top 10, moving up to seventh. The peloton with Widar rolled in 2’03” down, meaning the defending champ now trails Tuckwell by 1’23” – a gap that won’t be easy to close, especially given how strong the Scot looked back on Passo Maniva.
Click here to check the rankings…
