"I don’t see how I could have won this stage": Andreas Leknessund sentenced to another second place by stellar Bettiol

Andreas Leknessund did everything in his capacity to win the stage 13 of the 2026 Giro d'Italia... but against the overwhelming Alberto Bettiol, it simply was not enough. Despite a tremendous effort, the Uno-X Mobility rider has to settle for yet another second place as he already came close to a victory in Fermo last week, when only Jhonatan Narváez was outside Leknessund's reach.

As has become a norm in stages like today's the breakaway formation phase has taken a while, but ultimately a 15-headed group was given a green light by the peloton.

"We didn’t go very fast today, but the heat made it very tough," Leknessund told CyclingProNet at the finish line. "On the final climb I felt good and saw that guys behind me were dropping off while I still had something left, so I attacked."

A gap immediately opened up behind Leknessund, but one man continued to ride like a shadow 5 seconds behind the Norwegian champion - Alberto Bettiol. And as the top approached, Leknessund started to pay a tax for his earlier acceleration: "In hindsight, I might have gone a bit too early, but on the other hand, it would have been difficult too if I had ridden to the finish together with Bettiol."

However Leknessund also acknowledges that this was his only shot at a victory. And if it weren't for Bettiol, he would've succeeded in his task because the remaining opponents arrived 20 seconds after runner-up Leknessund.

"For me, the gap to the rest after the climb really had to be as big as possible to stand a chance of winning the stage," he continues. "Bettiol was simply the strongest today; I really don’t see how I could have won this stage."

For Leknessund, it was already his third second-place finish in a Giro stage in his career. He is quite disappointed about it, he concludes: "I would gladly have traded them for one victory. But oh well, second is a good result."