For the first time in the history of the race, the new King of the Two Seas is Mexican. Isaac Del Toro has won Tirreno Adriatico 2026, doing so with the authority of a rider who, at just 22 years of age, already has 26 professional victories to his name, more than Tadej Pogačar had at the same age. Joining him on the podium are Matteo Jorgenson, the third American ever to achieve this feat, and Giulio Pellizzari.
The final heart-stopping sprint went to Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek), who once again imposed his law on the finish line in San Benedetto del Tronto. Second place went to Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers), with Laurenz Rex (Soudal Quick Step) finishing third.
Many thought it would be a parade stage… but it did not quite turn out that way. At first it seemed so, with the harmless breakaway of Xabier Azparren (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), Roberto Carlos González (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) and Dries De Bondt (Jayco AlUla) stretching their lead to four minutes. Then, on the climb of Ripatransone, Alpecin Premier Tech lit things up, or rather Mathieu Van der Poel, who treated the final stage like a personal training session ahead of Milano Sanremo and began driving the pace at full gas.
It looked like an effort aimed at dropping the sprinters and setting up his teammate Jasper Philipsen, but that was not the case, because the peloton inevitably thinned out and even Philipsen was distanced. Around thirty riders remained at the front, while a large chasing group formed behind with all the sprinters, except Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Intermarché), who was even further back. Van der Poel, with all the GC contenders on his wheel, continued his personal show until the San Benedetto del Tronto circuit, when Ineos Grenadiers managed to bring everything back together, ending Mathieu’s relentless effort after more than 30 kilometres of furious pacing.
At that point Visma | Lease a Bike took control, leading the peloton towards the intermediate sprint at the third passage over the line. Perfectly led out by Wout Van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson won the sprint, collected three bonus seconds and moved ahead of Pellizzari into second place overall.
Isaac Del Toro is the Maglia Azzurra of Tirreno Adriatico 2026
From then on nothing could prevent the expected bunch sprint, although the late move from Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno X Mobility), only reeled in inside the final kilometre, caused a few anxious moments. With 2 km to go there was also a crash involving Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick Step) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Premier Tech), but not Milan, who was guided perfectly into position by Edward Theuns in the final 400 metres before finishing the job with one of his trademark, unstoppable sprints.
For Milan it is a third consecutive victory in San Benedetto del Tronto, his fifth career win at Tirreno Adriatico and his sixth of the season, making him, for now, the most successful rider of the year together with Remco Evenepoel.
