Another nail-biting finish at the 2026 Giro Next Gen and another victory snatched by the breakaway riders. This time it was Jasper Schoofs (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team), who claimed his first-ever Under-23 victory by outsprinting his fellow escapees Simone Zanini (XDS Astana Development Team) and Matteo Vanhuffel (Development Team Picnic PostNL), while also taking over the Maglia Rosa.
Davide Donati, meanwhile, was dropped on the climb to Viggiano and later crashed on the descent, failing to hold the wheels of the group of around 40 riders that came within a few metres of the breakaway. The chase group was led home by Daan Dijkman (UAE Team Emirates GenZ) for fourth place.
Another breakaway coup
This time, the breakaway took shape much earlier, with Matteo Vanhuffel (Development Team Picnic PostNL), Jasper Schoofs (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team), Diego Casagrande (Tudor U23) and Simone Zanini (XDS Astana Development Team) going clear after just fifteen kilometres. All four riders were only 14 seconds down on the general classification and managed to build an advantage of up to 3’30” over the peloton, which was once again led by the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe Rookies of Lorenzo Finn and Davide Donati.
For several kilometres, Lennes Jacobs (Development Team Picnic PostNL), Cristian Remelli (General Store-Essegibi-F.lli Curia) and Daniele Forlin (Movistar Academy) remained in no man’s land, chasing hard and coming within 40 seconds of the leaders, only to wave the white flag on the ascent to the Prestieri Pass and eventually be reeled in by the bunch.
The leaders continued to work together smoothly, although Casagrande was unable to keep up on the climb to Viggiano. Decathlon set a fierce pace on the ascent, reducing the size of the peloton and causing Maglia Rosa Davide Donati to lose contact, but the three remaining escapees still crested the climb with a 30-second advantage. On the descent towards Villa d’Agri di Marsicovetere, Andrea Bessega (Lidl-Trek Future Racing) tried to bridge across on his own, without success, while Decathlon and Visma launched one final effort to bring the leaders back.
Schoofs, Zanini and Vanhuffel judged their effort to perfection and held onto their slender advantage to fight for both the stage victory and the Maglia Rosa. The Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team proved to be the fastest, leaving the peloton with more regrets.
