Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe’s Giulio Pellizzari took control of the 2026 Tour of the Alps with a punchy win on stage 2. The Italian outkicked a select group on the Val Martello finish and pulled on the leader’s jersey.
Thymen Arensman came close once more, but had to settle for second after another near-miss in as many days. Osgoode, Ont.’s Derek Gee-West finished 30th, 1:04 behind. He drops 10 places, from 16th overall to 26th.
Stage 2
After a lively opening stage, the peloton was kept on a tighter leash, with Tudor Pro Cycling setting tempo for defending champion Michael Storer. The day’s break never gained much freedom, despite the efforts of Mattia Gaffuri, Emanuel Zangerle, and Davide Bais.
On the final climb, Arensman lit things up early, joined by Storer and young Lorenzo Finn. Pellizzari bridged across and quickly pushed on, eventually reeling in Gaffuri ahead. A late regrouping set up the sprint, where Pellizzari had just enough to edge it, with Gaffuri hanging on for third.
Pidcock finishes well behind
Gee-West wasn’t the only one to have a rough day. Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), in his second race back after a month off following a crash at the Volta a Catalunya, finished well off the pace, in 74th.
That being said, the Brit did say he’d be using the race to get some miles in to prepare for the upcoming Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Stage 3 is another doozy, from Latsch/Laces › Arco for a total of 174.5 km. There’s also a big ole Category 1 climb in the first half to tenderize some legs and possibly create a selection. Lidl-Trek didn’t have too much to say about what happened to Gee-West today, apart from a brief post on X. “An extremely tough final climb to finish stage two of Tour of the Alps Unfortunately not the best day for our guys but there’s still three more stages to fight for!”