“There will be a big fight” - Jonas Vingegaard expects Giro d’Italia battle to ignite on Stage 2

After safely navigating the chaotic opening stage of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, Jonas Vingegaard expects a much more nervous and unpredictable day to await on Stage 2 as the race heads inland toward Veliko Tarnovo.

The Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader spent most of Friday’s opening stage staying deep inside the peloton while the sprint teams fought for control ahead of the crash-marred finale in Burgas, where Paul Magnier ultimately sprinted to victory and the first Maglia Rosa of this year’s race.

Speaking ahead of Stage 2 in conversation with Cycling Pro Net, Vingegaard described the opener as one of the calmest racing days he has experienced despite the dramatic crash in the finale. “Yeah, it was in general quite a quiet stage,” Vingegaard explained. “Easy, nothing special to write home about. It was one of the most easy, most calm stages I’ve ever tried, and it was big roads.”

The Dane also confirmed Visma’s decision to stay away from the sprint chaos had been entirely deliberate. “So we also decided just to sit in the back, and there was no risk with that,” Vingegaard said.

That approach is unlikely to be possible on Saturday. While Stage 2 is not expected to trigger a full GC showdown, the 221-kilometre route to Veliko Tarnovo features a much more complicated finale than the straightforward sprint stage which opened the Giro.

Several late climbs, repeated uphill sections and technical roads inside the closing kilometres are expected to create a far more aggressive fight for positioning, with puncheurs, attackers and GC riders all likely to battle for control approaching the finish.

“Well, for sure you have to be up there in the front,” Vingegaard said. “You have to be ready for it because there will be a big fight. It’s definitely a hard climb in the end. So yeah, you need to be up there and be ready for it.”

The finale also includes cobbled sections and short uphill drags which could create splits if the pace becomes aggressive enough late in the stage.

Although pure climbers are unlikely to launch major attacks this early in the Giro, Vingegaard suggested the unpredictable nature of the finale leaves the stage wide open tactically.

“I think it can be everything basically,” he explained. “It can be a breakaway going. It can be a reduced bunch sprint or somebody trying to go on the second last climb. But yeah, I guess only time will tell.”

After the chaos of Stage 1, Saturday’s second stage now appears set to offer the first genuinely unpredictable finale of the 2026 Giro d’Italia, with the GC teams likely to become far more visible near the front of the peloton than they were in Burgas.