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How it happened: Surprise drama on pancake flat stage 15 of Giro d’Italia 2026

How it happened: Surprise drama on pancake flat stage 15 of Giro d’Italia 2026

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After today, Magnier leads Narváez by just 14 points. Potentially huge for the points classification battle with some very hard days still to come and a 50 point day on a stage that suits riders like Narváez far more than the pure sprinters.

Magnier was the man to lead in the peloton behind as he retakes the lead in the points classification.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Heartbreak for Maestri and Marcellusi who gave their all, but the former Norwegian national champion takes a Grand Tour stage win on his debut.

Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility wins stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia 2026 in the second fastest Giro stage of all time!

MILAN, ITALY - MAY 24: (L-R) Fredrik Dversnes Lavik of Norway and Team Uno-X Mobility celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of Mirco Maestri of Italy and Team Polti VisitMalta and Martin Marcellusi of Italy and Team Bardiani CSF 7 Saber during the 109th Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 15 a 157km stage from Voghera to Milan / #UCIWT / on May 24, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

250 metres to go!

Crash in the peloton!

The peloton coming back extremely fast with 500 metres to go.

Flamme Rouge

21″ gap and they stall in the break! Bais comes to the front for Maestri.

Narváez moving up in the points jersey as Stuyven is the only man left for Magnier with 2km to go. 26″ gap as the break have their first look at each other!

Milan’s last man, Consonni, comes to the front!

Movistar and Picnic-PostNL finally start pushing hard with 3km to go. 24″ gap. Unibet Rose Rockets get their final leadout men to the front now with Groenewegen in third wheel followed by Pascal Ackermann (Jayco-AlUla).

4km to go and the gap is 25″ as the peloton stall in the chase for now.

Tudor and Decathlon-CMA CGM finally come to the front along with Movistar, Groupama-FDJ United and Picnic-PostNL but there is a lot of looking around and are losing time again.

Picnic-PostNL and Decathlon-CMA CGM are not coming up with their trains, likewise Tudor. They’re gambling it all with 6km to go and 32″ gap!

7km to go for the break and they have 41! on the peloton.

Decathlon-CMA CGM and Picnic-PostNL now coming up en masse, but it it too little too late? The big sprinters teams have hardly anyone left.

Lidl-Trek having to use their GC man Derek Gee-West on the front of the peloton to chase the break who are 40″ clear with 9km to go.

Fabio van den Bossche (Soudal-Quickstep) joins Kubiš and Walscheid on the front of the peloton but that time gap is not budging with 13km to go.

The gap adjusts! It is now 54″ for the breakaway. With Kubiš still leading the way with Walscheid.

As the peloton power across the finish line and take the bell the gap says 38″ for the four riders out front. This is going to be touch and go for the sprinters who are losing their teammates all the time.

This stage is on course to be the second fastest Giro d’Italia stage in history with the average speed above 51kph.

Unibet Rose Rockets having to use Slovakian champion Lukáš Kubiš as well as Lidl-Trek having to use Max Walscheid. Gap now at 1’02”.

The gap drops to 1’06” with a big chunk getting taken off their time.

Multiple riders swinging off with the break still having 1’28” with 25km to go. Some riders are having to use their leadout men early.

Two and a half hours races with the average speed at 51kph! It has been absolutely rapid today.

Two laps to go and the breakaway is still holding 1’40” on the peloton. They are riding superbly well out front.

Reports say that Ben O’Connor has also been to the head car as well.

Vingegaard is going back to the head commissaire care complaining about the barriers at the finish. They do appear to be kicking out on the finishing straight. He is talking about the potholes as well saying he almost crashed multiple time.

Dversnes wins the Red Bull sprint.

Vingegaard is right at the back in pink. He is with Campenaerts and looks like he may have an issue.

Some splits appearing in the peloton with the pace rocketing now.

The gap has corrected to 2’14” now with the break just 5km to go until the Red Bull sprint.

Second time across the finish line with three laps to go in Milan.

Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) back at the head commissaire car seemingly discussing how safe the circuit is. He doesn’t seem to be very happy with the safety on the circuit in Milan.

Mechanical for Enric Mas (Movistar).

Multiple GC teams are now starting to move up a bit more now we are on the circuit, but it looks pretty straightforward on relatively wide roads.

These laps give all the sprinters and their leadout men a chance to have a good look at the finale before the finish.

First passage of the finish line. Huge crowds out in Milan.

The gap to the break has dropped to 2’00” as the riders enter the circuit in Milan with huge crowds.

The riders are close to crossing the halfway point on the stage.

Roughly about two hours of racing left of racing today considering the pace they’re going at.

Magnier takes that one point and levels up the scores in the points classification.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG are going for the one remaining point for Narváez but Magnier is on his wheel.

Marcellusi takes the intermediate sprint in Pavia.

The break of Dversnes, Maestri, Bais and Marcellusi have 3km to go until the intermediate sprint in Pavia. You may recognise the name Pavia as it has been hosting the start of Milan-San Remo for the last few years.

MILAN, ITALY - MAY 24: Fredrik Dversnes Lavik of Norway and Team Uno-X Mobility competes in the breakaway during the 109th Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 15 a 157km stage from Voghera to Milan / #UCIWT / on May 24, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The average speed is over 50kph so far. They are riding along at a very good pace.

Ghebreigzabhier isn’t riding on the front all alone, though. Unibet Rose Rockets and Soudal-Quickstep also joining in the chase.

Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek) is the man leading the way in the peloton.

Alpecin-Premier Tech no longer have their big name sprinter in Kaden Groves after he abandoned suffering from his injuries from the crash on stage 2. However, they do have a sprinter, Jenson Plowright. The Australian criterium champion will be very familiar with the style of racing at the finish in Milan today.

Alpecin-Premier Tech are being blocked in by the sprinters teams. They really want to get into the breakaway with Danish time trialist Johan Price-Pejtersen to make this breakaway have some slim chance, but they can’t get close to going on the attack.

More attacks in the peloton with Alpecin-Premier Tech trying. However, he has three Soudal-Quickstep riders and an NSN rider on his wheel as Enric Mas (Movistar) closes it down.

Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre and Alpecin-Premier Tech tried to counter in the peloton but they had the door firmly shut in front of them to stop them moving.

Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF-7 Sabre), Mattia Bais (Polti-Visit Malta), Alessandro Tonelli (Polti-Visit Malta) and Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) are clear with 18″ on the peloton.

The same teams try to make another break but nothing is doing. The sprinters teams don’t want more than four riders who now get away.

Soudal-Quickstep, Lidl-Trek and NSN immediately go to work to bring that back. Too many riders in that one.

Just 1km of neutral left.

The race is actually late starting at the moment. They are 3km away from the flag being waved.

The riders have rolled out and are on their way to the race start proper.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is fully decked out in pink today for his very first day in the leaders jersey…

VOGHERA, ITALY - MAY 24: Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Team Visma | Lease a Bike - Pink Leader Jersey prior to the 109th Giro d'Italia 2026, Stage 15 a 157km stage from Voghera to Milan / #UCIWT / on May 24, 2026 in Voghera, Italy. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The riders are due to start the neutralised zone any minute now.

Here is the above view of what the stage looks like today with four laps of the finishing circuit in Milan.

Map of stage 15 at the Giro d'Italia 2026

(Image credit: RCS Sport)

It is going to be another hot day for the riders with the temperatures set to reach over 30°c. Staying cool will be vital today.

Onto today and you couldn’t find a more different stage profile to yesterday’s stage than today’s. It is completely pancake flat with a few laps around the city of Milan after the halfway point.

Stage 15 profile for the Giro d'Italia 2026 from Voghera to Milan over 157km of very flat racing.

(Image credit: RCS Sport)

Bongiorno and welcome to live updates of the 15th stage at this year’s Giro d’Italia.

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