Pidcock Delivers In Arco — Q365-Pinarello Leader Wins Tour Of The Alps Stage 3, Pellizzari Holds Maglia Verde Into Queen Stage
Tom Pidcock has taken the first win of a bruising comeback. The Briton, who after Volta a Catalunya and a scan-cleared knee had described his return as "the worst day ever on the bike" barely 72 hours ago, produced a perfectly timed sprint out of the Arco roundabout complex to win Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour of the Alps ahead of Tommaso Dati and Egan Bernal.
The 175.1-kilometre stage from Laces to Arco had been billed as a climbers' day. The Passo Castrin, 22.2 kilometres at 5.7 per cent topping out at 2,053 metres, was expected to blow the race apart. Instead, the descent and the long run-in to Arco allowed a chase group of about 30 riders to consolidate, keeping the door open for a reduced sprint finish that Pidcock's Q365-Pinarello team read perfectly.
"I can't lie, I've hated every kilometre of this race so far," Pidcock admitted afterwards with characteristic bluntness. "The knee is not 100 per cent and I've been hiding in the bunch. But the team asked me to commit today and it paid off." The win is his first in a Q365-Pinarello jersey since the rebrand, and a meaningful one for a sponsor that has spent heavily on the spring campaign.
Overall leader Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was fourth across the line and retained the maglia verde heading into Thursday's queen stage from Arco to Schwaz. The Italian, who soloed to the jersey on the Val Martello 24 hours earlier, leads Thymen Arensman by four seconds and Jonas Vingegaard by 15.
Vingegaard, completing his final Giro-specific altitude rehearsal, rode conservatively and lost no time. The Dane finished in the main chase group alongside Arensman, Primož Roglič and Bernal. With one stage remaining and 3,900 metres of climbing on the Thursday menu, the Giro favourites will either commit to a GC offensive or let Pellizzari carry the Alps title to Innsbruck airport on Friday morning.
For Dati, second was another confirmation of a breakthrough Tour that began with his shock Stage 1 win in Rattenberg. The 23-year-old Italian is emerging as a genuine Ardennes-style classicsman in Tudor colours. Bernal's third is his best Alps result since his injury-enforced hiatus, and a promising sign for INEOS Grenadiers' Giro d'Italia line-up.
Thursday's Stage 4 is unequivocally the queen stage: 167.8 kilometres from Arco to Schwaz with 3,900 metres of climbing, the Passo Bordala a first-category lever at 14.8 kilometres, and the Vicolo Vattaro and Passo Redebus on the run-in. If INEOS or Visma are going to attack Pellizzari's four-second cushion, this is the stage.
Pidcock will be watching from the back, nursing his knee and trying not to lose too much time before Friday's finish in Innsbruck. The stage win, he said, "changes absolutely nothing about how my body feels." It does, however, change the conversation around Q365-Pinarello's spring return, and reminds the peloton that when the British rider is in a reduced-sprint finish, there are very few riders quicker.