At GranPiemonte 2026, the battle between attackers and fast finishers ultimately went the way of the latter. The peloton arrived in Bra largely intact, where Dorian Godon (Netcompany Ineos) produced a powerful sprint to overhaul Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) and Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana). Bettiol had been leading out Thomas Silva, but the Uruguayan crashed into the barriers on the final corner.
This marks the seventh victory of the season for the Frenchman and the 23rd of his career. He also became just the fourth French rider ever to win the Piedmontese Classic. The previous French winner was Richard Virenque in 1996, just a few days after Godon was born.
Del Toro goes on the attack
After a fitting tribute to two highly respected domestiques, Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek), both riding the final race of their careers, the action got underway with a nine-man breakaway.
Aless De Bock (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Manuele Tarozzi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Alex Díaz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Valentin Ferron (Cofidis), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ United), Santiago Umba (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali), Germán Darío Gómez (Polti VisitMalta), Luc Wirtgen (Tudor) and Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) built a lead of up to two minutes over the peloton, which was unwilling to take any risks and kept them on a tight leash throughout.
Ferron and Umba were the last to surrender, eventually being caught with 40 km remaining, just after the first ascent of La Morra. The relatively gentle climb did little to split the field on the first passage, despite an attempt by UAE Team Emirates-XRG to force the pace. The team committed all its available riders to the effort, but with little to show for it.
That meant defending champion Isaac Del Toro had to take matters into his own hands on the second ascent. The Mexican launched one of his trademark explosive attacks, putting almost everyone under pressure. The exception was a determined Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who managed, with some difficulty, to latch onto his former teammate’s wheel.
Del Toro, however, was not particularly keen on company. He accelerated again approaching the summit, briefly distancing the New Zealander. Fisher-Black struggled to respond but kept his composure and managed to close the gap on the descent.
By then, though, the cooperation between the two riders had begun to falter. Their 30-second advantage at the summit quickly evaporated as several teams found the strength to organise a determined chase. With just 1.4 km remaining, the attackers were finally caught, making a bunch sprint inevitable.
Bettiol moved to the front in the closing few hundred metres to lead out Silva, but the final corner proved disastrous for the former Maglia Rosa. The Uruguayan crashed into the barriers, badly disrupting the riders immediately behind him.
That left Bettiol, Charmig and Godon to fight for victory, with the Frenchman once again demonstrating just how well he has mastered the art of winning this season.
