Results Giro d'Italia 2026 stage 13 - Alberto Bettiol takes breakaway glory in Verbania

Stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia was another day where the peloton saw the breakaway succeed, without chase from the peloton as expected. A group of climbers, classics specialists and rouleurs stood out on the stage into Verbania, and it was Italy's own Alberto Bettiol who took the home country's third stage win of the race.

The stage was highly predicted to be one for the breakaway to succeed in, and so despite the pan-flat start out of Alessandria; the riders would be crossing the Po valley at high speed in search of forming a front group that suited everyone's interests.

There were dozens of riders making attempts, but ultimately a few groups managed to go up the road - later on uniting in the head of the race. Axel Huens, Jasper Stuyven, Francesco Busatto, Toon Aerts, Mirco Maestri, Markus Hoelgaard, Alberto Bettiol, Mark Donovan, Michael Valgren, Johan Jacobs, Josh Kench, Diego Pablo Sevilla, Larry Warbasse, Mikkel Bjerg and Andreas Leknessund were the 15 riders who would contest for the stage win.

The peloton had no worries about the group, with no GC outsiders, no stage ambitions; the group rode calmly to the finish line without any meaningful action.

Out front is where the riders had everything to play for. Several teams had more than one rider out front, and so it was possible for some tactical racing. However, the profile didn't exactly favour that, with no climbs whatsoever up until the final consecutive combination. 2.4Km at 5.7% and 4.7Km at 7%, the last of which ending with 13 kilometers to go.

However, there were no tactics involved, as Groupama - FDJ, who had three riders, used them to pace the group. This disencouraged others from attacking, and led the group straight into the final climb.

Josh Kench then took it up on the final climb to attack first for the French team, quickly creating splits in the group which would end up being decisive. Over the top, Andreas Leknessund attacked himself and went solo off the front.

The Norwegian champion looked to be on the day to victory after his defeat to Jhonatan Narváez on stage 8; however towards the summit of the climb Astana's Alberto Bettiol rode strongly from behind and then launched an explosive attack which would give him a gap of a few seconds at the summit finish.

The approach to Verbania was fast and furious, with Bettiol flying down the descent and then evading potholes left and right into the finishing town. Bettiold secured Astana's third stage win after Guillermo Thomas Silva and Davide Ballerini each won in the first week. Andreas Leknessund rode to second place and Jasper Stuyven rode to third behind in a small group sprint.