The opening breakaway formed almost immediately after the official start, with Manuele Tarozzi and Diego Pablo Sevilla establishing the first escape move of this year’s Giro for Bardiani CSF-Faizane and Polti-VisitMalta respectively. Behind, Lidl-Trek, Soudal-Quick Step and Unibet Rose Rockets quickly assumed control of the peloton, keeping the gap under firm control as the race travelled along the Black Sea coastline before later looping back toward Burgas.
Despite the straightforward stage profile, the pace remained high through the opening hour of racing, with Tarozzi and Sevilla’s advantage fluctuating around the two-minute mark before gradually reducing as the sprint teams continued to dictate the tempo behind.
Jonathan Milan started the day among the leading favourites for both the stage victory and the first maglia rosa, with Lidl-Trek visibly committing early to the chase alongside support from Soudal-Quick Step and Unibet Rose Rockets. The flat route offered few realistic opportunities to disrupt the expected bunch sprint later in Burgas, although the exposed roads and constant positioning fights still ensured a nervous atmosphere inside the peloton through the opening phase of the stage.
Sevilla secures first mountains jersey
The race moved onto the local circuits around Sozopol during the second half of the stage, where the only categorised climbs of the day featured on the gradual slopes of Cape Agalina. Sevilla emerged on top in both battles for mountain points against Tarozzi, allowing the Polti-VisitMalta rider to secure the first maglia azzurra of this year’s Giro d’Italia.
The intermediate sprint also produced the first direct battle between two of the leading sprint favourites, with Milan beating Kaden Groves in the fight for maximum points behind the breakaway. Groves collected the remaining points available for second place, while most of the other sprint contenders stayed out of the contest.
The pace increased again approaching the Red Bull KM sprint inside the final 50 kilometres, where bonus seconds briefly sparked the first aggressive accelerations from within the peloton.
Lotto-Intermarché attempted to launch a move before the sprint, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG quickly reacted before Antonio Morgado swept up the remaining bonus seconds available behind Tarozzi and Sevilla. With the major secondary classifications already largely decided for the day, the gap to the breakaway rapidly collapsed during the run back toward Burgas. Tarozzi and Sevilla were eventually reeled in inside the final 30 kilometres after spending almost the entire stage out front.
A brief moment of panic also hit the bunch when a loose dog ran close to the peloton and narrowly avoided the race convoy before the situation quickly settled again without incident.
Heavy crash disrupts sprint finale in Burgas
The pace sharply increased inside the final six kilometres as the sprint trains fully formed for the run toward Burgas, with speeds rising beyond 60kph approaching the finale.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG remained visible near the head of the peloton approaching the final 10 kilometres, while Jonas Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike were content to stay deeper inside the bunch on the relatively safe run-in toward Burgas, where the five-kilometre rule also reduced some of the GC risk ahead of the expected sprint finish.
Magnier and Milan both remained well positioned entering the final kilometre, while Dylan Groenewegen was forced to fight his way forward after briefly losing ground before the decisive phase of the sprint.
The finale then descended into chaos following a heavy crash inside the final kilometre which split the peloton and left only a small front group able to contest the stage victory. Soudal-Quick Step emerged best positioned from the disruption, with Jasper Stuyven leading Magnier into the final sprint before the Frenchman finished the job to secure both the stage victory and the first pink jersey of the 2026 Giro d’Italia.