Filed from Verbania, Lake Maggiore — May 22, 2026 | 12:00 CET
Thirty-three seconds. That is the margin that separates Afonso Eulálio from Jonas Vingegaard in the general classification of the 2026 Giro d'Italia, and today those 33 seconds will be spent, stretched, or defended on 189 kilometres of northern Italian road that begin in the flat plains of Alessandria and end on the western shore of Lake Maggiore, in Verbania — the hometown of Filippo Ganna.
The peloton left Alessandria at 11:00 this morning into mild, overcast conditions. The Po Valley has delivered two days of grey skies since Liguria, and the riders have settled into the long, flat rhythm that governs transition stages: the breakaway goes, the sprinters' teams pull, the GC leaders conserve. For 160 kilometres, Verbania will be an abstraction.
In the final 29, it becomes everything.
Verbania and Its Favourite Son
Filippo Ganna is 29 years old, a two-time world time trial champion, and he was born in this city. He still lives here. His extended family will be in the crowd on the Lungo Lago today, which means a face Ganna has known since childhood will be watching when he either wins or doesn't in front of them. That is both a gift and a weight.
"I can't deny my home stage to Verbania stands out for me," he said yesterday. It was the most direct thing he's said all race.
Ganna won Stage 10's time trial at Biella — the kind of performance that reminded the field he has more than one gear. But today's profile is not a time trial. The Ungiasca, which arrives with 18 kilometres remaining, is 4.7 kilometres at 7.1 percent average, with several extended passages above 10 percent. A world-class Ganna on a great day might survive it. On a regular day, the pure climbers will drop him. This is the tension the stage creates.
The solution many expect Ganna to try: go before the Ungiasca. Attack on the flat approach, put 20 or 30 seconds in the bank, grind up the Ungiasca alone, and then use his TT engine on the 13-kilometre run to the line. It is not without precedent. It is very much Ganna's kind of plan.
The GC Angle: 33 Seconds and Counting
For Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike, today's calculus is different. The Dane has ridden three stages since the Stage 10 time trial without gaining on Eulálio. The mountain stages of Week 3 — the stages where he expects to be dominant — are approaching fast. But the Ungiasca is not nothing. Two short climbs in a puncheur's finale, 33 seconds of deficit to erase: this is an opportunity if Eulálio cracks even slightly.
Vingegaard is not expected to launch a full GC attack today. The team's public position is that they are managing the situation and waiting for higher mountains. But the sport has a way of rewriting press conference statements mid-race, and if Eulálio shows any weakness on the Bieno or the Ungiasca, the Visma team will not hesitate.
Eulálio, for his part, has answered every test so far. At Blockhaus in Stage 7, he followed Vingegaard's acceleration and matched him tempo-for-tempo through the summit. In the Stage 10 time trial, where many expected Vingegaard to blow the race open, Eulálio limited his losses to 33 seconds — a margin much smaller than the pre-race predictions. Yesterday's Red Bull Kilometre bonus even extended his lead slightly.
The 23-year-old Portuguese rider from Leiria has been one of the revelations of this Giro season. A Bahrain Victorious signing whose name most fans outside Portugal didn't know in January; a Maglia Rosa wearer in May who is riding with the self-possession of someone twice his age.
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Join ZealZagFollow us on InstagramThe Puncheur's Stage: Narváez, Ciccone, Scaroni
If neither Ganna nor Vingegaard unsettles the front of the race, this stage belongs to the puncheurs.
Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has already won three stages in this Giro. Three. In the same edition. Each one from a breakaway, each one delivered with a sprint or a late acceleration that outclassed whoever came with him. He is the Giro's breakaway king this year, and today's profile — long flat approach, short hard finale — is designed for exactly his kind of day. If UAE gives him freedom, he will take it.
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Alessandro Scaroni (XDS Astana) are the two names the Italian press have circled. Ciccone in particular will have local support along the Maggiore lakeside; Scaroni has been excellent in this year's one-day races and translates that form to Giro stage finishes.
The Stage Plays Out: Kilometres 160-189
The race comes off the Po Plain and hits the pre-Alpine foothills west of the lake. The Bieno arrives first — 2.4 kilometres at 5.5 percent, a manageable opener that thins the leading group without breaking it. After Bieno, 16 kilometres to the Ungiasca.
The Ungiasca is where today's stage will be decided. Short enough that one acceleration can fracture a group; hard enough that nobody can follow someone who is simply going better than them. After the summit, 13 kilometres remain: 6 kilometres of descent off the mountain's western flank, then 7 kilometres of flat lakeside road into central Verbania along the Lungo Lago Cannobbio.
In those final 7 kilometres, the lake is on the right. The Borromean Islands, hazy across the water. Verbania's church towers. The crowd four deep on the barriers. And whoever has survived the Ungiasca with enough left in their legs will be fighting for a stage finish in one of northern Italy's most beautiful settings.
What Comes Next
Stage 13 is also the last stage before the Giro's second rest day. Whatever the result today, the race pauses for 24 hours before the Alpine stages begin in earnest on Saturday. What happens in those final 25 kilometres of today's stage will echo through the rest of a race that is nowhere near decided.
Ganna chasing a childhood dream in his home city. Vingegaard waiting for a gap in Eulálio's armour. The puncheurs queuing for their moment. Verbania has been waiting fourteen years for a stage finish. It won't be quiet.
See our Lake Maggiore cycling guide for the full route breakdown and how to ride these roads yourself. For Stage 12's Segaert raid in Novi Ligure, read the Stage 12 field report.
