Tuesday’s stage finale of the 61st Tirreno-Adriatico was a wild, greasy gravel section leading to steep little hill where Mathieu van der Poel beat Isaac del Toro and Giulio Pellizzari in a three-up sprint. Del Toro takes over the Race of the Two Seas’ lead from Filippo Ganna.

Preliminaries

Ganna had a healthy 22-second lead over his Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman after winning the opening time trial. Poised nearby were Primož Roglič (+0:30), del Toro (+0:36) and Roglič’s teammate Pellizzari (+0:37).

Ganna in blue. Photo: Sirotti

The Course

Mostly flat, there was a Cat. 3 and some ripples in the final third of 206 km from Camaiore to San Gimignano. But the final 10 km would challenge the riders. Five km of gravel immediately preceded a 1.2-km climb of 7.1 percent to the line at the San Gimignano citadel. There was light rain on and off.

A tricky end to Stage 2. Image by La FlammeRouge

Tuesday’s breakaway was a quartet made up of mostly ProTeam chaps.

John Degenkolb gives Julian Alaphilippe a little scratch in the peloton.

Ineos, Visma-Lease a Bike and Alpecin-Premier Tech worked on the front of the peloton. When the race reached the lumpy bits, the fugitives had a 1:40 gap. By the crest of Cat. 3 Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, the lead was 40 seconds. The catch was made with 39 km remaining, cuing the rain to rip down.

Alaphilippe and van der Poel were at the forefront when the field hit the gravel. Del Toro and Roglič were accounted for. Van der Poel took over the front and only Matteo Jorgenson and del Toro were with him before Jorgenson crashed. Del Toro evaded the prone American and chased with Pellizzari.

Del Toro avoids Jorgenson and van der Poel charges forward on the gravel.

Van der Poel, del Toro and Pellizzari took a healthy gap to the foot of the final climb. Roglič, Wout van Aert, Jorgenson and Jai Hindley were among the closest chasers. Ganna was farther back.

The chase, now containing Ganna, got closer to the trio. Pellizzari lit the fuse first, van der Poel responding. But it came down to the three riders abreast, van der Poel taking the win by a nose. Roglič finished 11th and is 18 seconds back of del Toro in the GC

Wednesday’s stage is one for sprinters like Jonathan Milan and Jasper Philipsen.

2026 Tirreno-Adriatico, Stage 2
1) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Premier Tech) 4:53:23
2) Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE Emirates) s.t.
3) Giulio Pellizzari (Italy/Red Bull) s.t.

2026 Tirreno-Adriatico GC
1) Isaac del Toro (Mexico/UAE Emirates) 5:06:01
2) Giulio Pellizzari (Italy/Red Bull) +0:03
3) Magnus Sheffield (USA/Ineos) +0:13