ANALYSIS - The best and worst of the 2026 Giro d'Italia as Jonas Vingegaard completes triple crown

The 109th Giro d’Italia reached its conclusion last Sunday in Rome. Via dei Fori Imperiali welcomed Jonas Vingegaard into the Hall of Fame of Triple Crown winners. The Dane was the undisputed protagonist of the corsa rosa alongside his team, Visma - Lease a Bike.

After three weeks of racing, from Bulgarian soil to the Eternal City, having crossed Italy from south to north, the peloton wrapped up a demanding race that sparked mixed views.

CiclismoAlDía analysts Juan Larra and Javier Rampe agreed in acknowledging the greatness of the Danish rider after sealing a milestone that brings him huge peace of mind ahead of his next goals this year.

In Rampe’s words, “the best part was seeing Jonas Vingegaard sign his name in cycling history, entering the hall of fame with that treble.” The leader’s superiority completely erased the fight for the maglia rosa, a battle further weakened by Joao Almeida’s withdrawal through physical problems, the only genuine challenger who truly stirred anticipation.

Only Austria’s Felix Gall, of Decathlon, tried to take the fight to him before settling for securing second place on the podium. The overall dominance was reinforced by Sepp Kuss’s success, who completed his trilogy of stage wins across the three Grand Tours, and the notable emergence of Italian Davide Piganzoli.

The Italian Grand Tour also delivered an engaging tussle for the ciclamino between Soudal’s Paul Magnier and Jhonatan Narváez, representing UAE Team, a thrilling duel cut short two days from Rome after the Ecuadorian was forced to abandon with whiplash suffered while returning to his team bus.

The flip side of this edition was the alarming lack of suspense and excessive predictability that weighed down the key high-mountain days with a hegemonic leader and his thunderous team.

Vingegaard’s overwhelming superiority and Visma’s tightly metronomic pace ultimately dulled the peloton’s tactics, ensuring long-range attacks were conspicuous by their absence.

Larra was critical of this monotonous scenario, stating bluntly that “Grand Tours cannot allow a rider to be so superior to the rest, because it makes the race completely predictable,” arguing that interest evaporates when the outcome is known so far in advance.

This lack of initiative in the GC fight was compounded by the limited tactical effectiveness of teams like Decathlon, whose attempts to harden the race ended up, unintentionally, playing into the leader’s control.

Something similar happened at Netcompany Ineos, where an outstanding Egan Bernal did a notable job in support of Thymen Arensman, although the Dutchman faded at the key moments of the podium fight.

In parallel, the debate over route design gained momentum, with an ever clearer trend to swap the classic Giro blueprint for single-climb finishes and shorter stages.

A shift driven largely by television demands and one that, for many fans, strips away some of the epic and mystique that defined the marathon stages of the past.

Adding to this picture was the disappointment of Giulio Pellizzari, seen as the big local letdown, and the notable absence of Remco Evenepoel, whose participation was ruled out by Red Bull management to focus on France, depriving the Giro of a time trialist capable of putting the Danish champion’s hegemony under pressure.