In a thrilling, tactical finale to stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia, Brandon McNulty took the win in a sprint finish ahead of Ben Healy and Marco Frigo for his first Grand Tour stage win.
The route of the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia goes through some of the roads of Il Lombardia. The climbs of Valico di Valcava, Selvino and Valpiana all expected to be important on the day, making the selections for the win. Colle Aperto, a short hilltop was also to be ridden before the finish in the scenic city where the decisive attack can be made. It's a day in Lombardia with 4000 meters of climbing to end the second week.
Again a relatively large group went clear early on. 15 riders in total with the notable names involved including prior stage winner, Ben Healy, Bauke Mollema, Davide Ballerini and Alberto Dainese. Best placed in the general classification was Astana rider Simone Velasco at 15:33.
Einer Rubio and Martin Marcellusi made a late move to try and join the break and after a massive effort Rubio was successful. Notably as well, Rubio at only 11:04 down was now the best-placed rider in the break.
Reaching the first climb of the day, the break held a lead pushing 6 minutes ahead of a Groupama - FDJ led peloton with Marcellusi still somewhere in between, not giving up on his breakaway dream.
Finally, after a brilliant fight, the Italian joined up with the break taken the tally of the leading group up to 17 riders.
As the break began the ascent of the second climb of the day, Marcellusi was the first rider put into difficulty, perhaps unsurprisingly after his massive effort just to get in there. The Italian began yo-yo-ing off the back.
With Ben Healy beating Einer Rubio to the top of both of the first two climbs, the pair put themselves firmly into King of the Mountains contention.
The third climb of the day was again a battle between Healy and Rubio with a photo finish needed to determine which had timed their push to the line to perfection. Rubio took it and moved just two points behind Pinot in third in the KotM standings.
With around 46km to go, Niccolò Bonifazio launched an attack off the front of the breakaway, riding clear before the start of the final climb and quickly gaining a 30 second advantage.
As the climbing began, Bonifazio's lead had extended to 1:20. Not a pure climber however, the breakaway didn't seem all that worried.
As the attacking began at the front of the race through the likes of Healy, Rubio, Brandon McNulty and Marco Frigo, Bonifazio was quickly caught and passed.
Meanwhile, in the peloton, Jumbo-Visma showed their face at the front of the peloton.
Ben Healy was looking supreme as he danced on the peddles and began to creep away from his rivals and as they crested the top of the climb he led by 13 seconds ahead of McNulty and 34 of Frigo and nearly seven minutes on the peloton.
On the descent, McNulty managed to bridge the gap to the Irishman. At the end of the descent, the leading duo had around 30 seconds on the chasing Frigo.
With just over 10km to go, Frigo finally regained contact with the leading duo.
McNulty made a testing attack with 7km to go but it eventually led to nothing.
The first real attack came with 3.5km to go and it was Ben Healy. The EF Education-EasyPost rider was unable to get rid of McNulty although Frigo couldn't match him.
Going into the final kilometre Frigo was still 10 seconds behind but as the leaders played cat-and-mouse he caught and overtook them.
In a thrilling finale, all three riders gave absolutely everything and it was UAE Team Emirates's McNulty that took a narrow victory.
In the GC battle behind, the Maglia Rosa, Bruno Armirail was dropped on the final rise as Joao Almeida made an attack. Primoz Roglic, Andreas Leknessund and Geraint Thomas, Damiano Caruso and Eddie Dunbar were all right on his wheel.
Missing from the elite group was Lennard Kamna, Thibaut Pinot and Hugh Carthy who looked set to lose some time. By the line though the gap was at most a couple of seconds and around 25 seconds later, Armirail came home, keeping his lead.
Read also
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
🇺🇸 @BrandonMcNult wins stage 1️⃣5️⃣ of the Giro d’Italia!🥇 🇺🇸 @BrandonMcNult vince la tappa 1️⃣5️⃣ del Giro d’Italia! 🥇 #Giro #GirodItalia @LeFrecce
1 Comments