A statement to close the mountains. Vingegaard attacked from the GC group with 11 km still to climb on the final ascent of Piancavallo and rode solo to his fifth stage win of the race — equalling the Giro's most successful stage winner tally and stretching his overall lead to 5:22. After overturning Eulálio's early buffer at Pila and stamping his authority at Carì and on the queen stage, this was the exclamation point: the maglia rosa, won the hard way, now effectively secured with only Rome to come.

Gall again rode as best-of-the-rest, chasing Vingegaard's final-climb attack at a distance and coming home second on the stage at +1:15 alongside Hindley. He secures second overall at +5:22 — the standout Grand Tour result of his career and confirmation as the nearest, if distant, rival to the dominant maglia rosa.

Arensman survived a late scare. When Gee-West and Hindley attacked on the final climb and briefly threatened his fourth place, it was teammate Egan Bernal who paced him back into contact. He finished 5th on the stage and held fourth overall at +7:02 — a fine first Grand Tour as a protected GC leader.

The senior road captain's most important ride of the Giro. When Gee-West's attack threatened to dislodge Arensman from fourth, Bernal — a former Giro champion himself — guided his Dutch teammate back onto the rivals' wheels before finishing sixth on the stage. A telling sign of his continued comeback: strong enough to be decisive in the finale of a Grand Tour mountain stage in service of a teammate.

Storer rounded out a consistent three weeks, finishing ninth on the last mountain stage and holding seventh overall at +10:13 — a high-quality Grand Tour GC ride for the Tudor ProTeam.