EPIC GRAVEL BATTLE Men s Elite Stage 2 Tirreno Adriatico 2026 Final KM s TNT Sports Cycling

A moment for Mathieu van der Poel just to have a look and consider and review the scenario as Isaac del Toro has got himself into prime position. He just kicks out a little bit for a foot down cyclocross style from Mathieu van der Poel as well and he manages to recover but a little bit of daylight to del Toro and Valenzuela I think if he could he should have gone past because that could be a key moment as del Toro the back wheel kicked out in many ways I think that might actually have caused a little bit of a problem for Mathieu van der Poel let's yeah coming in to the inside of the corner a little bit shiny they saw the motorbike slip first over that really wet section and the back wheel let go of del Toro Mathieu van der Poel he reacted well but as he's trying to get his foot back in he just hit another softer section his front tire disappeared into he had to dab the foot once again that opened the gap up any other person probably would have gone down but both riders showing exceptional skill to hold it up through what is just a slimy slippery mud oh and plenty of riders down to get himself in a great position the man's second overall starting the day and he's gone down he's probably not the only one I think that's going to be claimed by this one today when he needs to get back on his bike as quick as he can and they're all over the place at the moment I think that's the Panamanian national champion that's in difficulty there Gonzales doing a great ride but Aronsman floundering here and he was the man who complained a bit about this sector he didn't like he didn't want it now we hit that same corner where we just saw del Toro van der Poel have an issue uh Tam and Aronsman he's hit that same slippery inside line and it's just let go on gone down heavily and you could see well he didn't make an attempt to get up quickly and he's picking up his belongings off the ground and that could be very well the end of his GC challenge in this Tirreno because favorites pre-race favorites like del Toro and Giulio Pellizzati riding away with the stage favorite Mathieu van der Poel and they have shredded the field to pieces well set to be the big winners here Giulio Pellizzati started the day 12th overall and Isak del Toro 10th overall it was a more conservative approach in the time trial from the man second in line here Mathieu van der Poel in terms of GC it's going to be a revolution at the end of the day will it be del Toro piling on the cold to try and put as much daylight between himself and his GC rivals Mathieu today Giulio Pellizzati what's his thinking because he's certainly going to be in a very strong position for GC for the Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe squad as well as that stage victory here today would be massive and in leading the charge behind is Van Aert finding himself distanced at a key moment but he's not giving up on this just yet trying to recover not just for himself but for Mathieu Jorgensen yeah with his other groups in between the leaders and as well I believe is up here for Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe and these three well 24 seconds they've got on the chase of 1.9k to go not long to the end of the gravel and then it's on to the big cobblestones that bring them into San Gimignano and how big are the turns that Mathieu van der bull is giving Isaac del Toro how do you make an effort to get back to del Toro after taking his foot out of that tricky little right hander and that's our has been cool calm and collected is he playing the Roglic Jai Hindley card here a little bit but clearly not minded to contribute how important are the contributions across the across the gravel del Toro certainly knows that he wants to go absolutely flat out here and is holding nothing back this is a GC ride for Isaac del Toro straight over the top of Mathieu van der Poel and a long strong turn Pellizzati however sitting in the wheels just in the slipstream saving everything he's got and del Toro well they have to be careful with a turn this big that Pellizzati isn't able to spring a surprise and put some distance into him Mathieu van der Poel however he is thinking purely stage victory nothing else remember yesterday uh uh Julian Pellizzati was 37 seconds behind Filippo Isaac del Toro 36.42 so I mean there's only a second between them on general classification it's absolutely nothing and there are 10 six and four bonus seconds on the finish line as well so much to number numbers to be crunched but we're away from the crunching gravel and now onto the smooth road and the road continues to rise all the way to the finish line the final 1300 meters at more than seven percent and it rises up and will continue to go left up at the top of this and into the the final moments as we take it up and into the beautiful uh square the town square the historic town square finish line in this beautiful village of San Gimignano and still it's Isaac del Toro that has the pleasure of setting the tempo on the front he hasn't looked for anyone else to do a turn yet no flick of the elbow barely a look over the shoulder he's just looking down the road but the chase group are closing in now 11 seconds a big rush now Buitrago, Andreas Krohn, Carapaz, Ben Healy is also here so they are ranging up just 11 seconds behind and del Toro this is purely about going for GC he's not thinking stage victory he is towing Mathieu van der Poel but also Pellizzati who's done a brilliant ride the young Italian so can Pellizzati make another acceleration to take advantage of the work done by del Toro inside 400 to go what can Isaac del Toro burn them off his wheels that would look seem a little bit unlikely right now Mathieu van der Poel red hot favorite can Giulio Pellizzati perhaps take a shock victory here he too has saved as much as he possibly could behind as well they'll be thinking that maybe they're in the hunt for a top three finish here they've been closing all the way to this point here's the big paving slabs we mentioned Giulio Pellizzati goes for a long one del Toro will try but it's Pellizzati has an advantage here inside 150 to go Mathieu van der Poel tries to put the power down on these slabs now he's coming around and it's Mathieu van der Poel going to glory or is he it's level pegging all the way to the line here it's shoulder to shoulder all the way and will he be able to hang on Pellizzati here comes del Toro del Toro around the outside but it's van der Poel that survives a blanket finish among the top three