Marco Pantani’s 28-year Giro record beaten as Jonas Vingegaard powers towards Grand Tour immortality

Jonas Vingegaard’s 2026 Giro d’Italia has already delivered pink jersey dominance, five stage wins and a near-certain Grand Tour Triple Crown. On Piancavallo, the Dane added another layer, reportedly beating Marco Pantani’s long-standing climbing record on the final mountain stage.

According to climbing data shared by Ammattipyoraily on X, Vingegaard completed the first 13.61 kilometres of Piancavallo, averaging 8.15%, in 36:17 on Stage 20. That would put him three seconds faster than Pantani’s 36:20 from 1998, a benchmark that had stood for 28 years on one of the Giro’s most recognisable mountain finishes.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader attacked with around 11 kilometres remaining on the final ascent, briefly taking Felix Gall with him before dropping the Austrian and sweeping past the remnants of the breakaway.

By the finish, Vingegaard had taken his fifth stage victory of the race and extended his overall lead to 5:22 over Gall, with only Sunday’s largely ceremonial final stage in Rome remaining.

Piancavallo already carried major Giro history. Pantani’s 1998 ride came during the season in which he won both the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, sealing his place as one of Italian cycling’s most iconic figures.

The comparison is based on the first 13.61 kilometres of the climb. Ammattipyoraily’s data lists Pantani at 36:20 in 1998, Thibaut Pinot at 38:56 in 2017, and Jai Hindley, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Wilco Kelderman at 37:51 in 2020. Vingegaard’s 2026 effort is listed at 36:17.

Those figures should be treated as climbing analysis rather than official race timing, but the context is striking. Vingegaard already had the Giro under control, a comfortable buffer over Gall, and a final stage in Rome still to come.

Visma raced for another stage win anyway. Tim Rex, Victor Campenaerts and Bart Lemmen helped keep the breakaway within reach before Vingegaard launched on the final climb. Gall followed briefly, but the pattern of this Giro repeated itself again. Vingegaard accelerated, opened daylight, and rode alone towards the summit.

Vingegaard now stands on the verge of joining the select group of riders to have won all three Grand Tours. He already has the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana on his palmares. Barring disaster in Rome, the Giro will complete the set.

The manner of it has sharpened the story. Vingegaard has won repeatedly, answered every mountain question and ended the final GC stage by beating a record linked to Pantani.

Gall has been the closest challenger in the race and will almost certainly finish second overall, yet even he was distanced almost immediately when Vingegaard made his final move on Piancavallo. Jai Hindley, Derek Gee-West, Thymen Arensman and the rest of the GC contenders were left fighting for the remaining places behind.

Vingegaard’s Giro has been dominant in results, ruthless in execution and, if the Piancavallo data stands as the accepted benchmark, historically fast on a climb already loaded with Italian cycling memory. Rome should confirm the overall victory. Piancavallo gave it the record-breaking image.