A near-flawless Grand Tour. Visma came with Vingegaard as the overwhelming favourite and delivered exactly that — patient while Eulálio's break held pink, then methodically dismantling the GC with summit wins at Blockhaus, Corno alle Scale, Pila (where pink changed hands), Carì and Piancavallo, plus Sepp Kuss's queen-stage win. With Wout van Aert lending early support, the team controlled the race front to back and rode their leader to his first maglia rosa.

Felix Gall turned an outsider's GC brief into the runner-up's place. He was the only rider to hold Vingegaard's Blockhaus attack to seconds, shadowed the Dane through every mountain range, and finished second overall at +5:22 — comfortably the team's best Grand Tour result of the season. Sprinter Tobias Lund Andresen chased the first-week bunch finishes.

With its biggest names elsewhere, Red Bull rode an opportunist's Giro and took the final podium step: Jai Hindley climbed to third on the Stage 19 queen stage, edging Arensman in the Dolomites and holding it to Rome. The revelation was 22-year-old Giulio Pellizzari, repeatedly in the front group on the high mountains — a marker laid down for the team's GC future.

Bahrain's race of the season. Afonso Eulálio rode into the maglia rosa off a huge Stage 5 breakaway and defended it for nine days — surviving the Stage 10 time trial that nearly erased his buffer — before Vingegaard finally prised it away at Pila on Stage 14. Alec Segaert added a breakaway win on Stage 12. For a team without a GC favourite, holding pink that long was a genuine triumph.

UAE's Giro was upended on Stage 2, when a rain-soaked descent crash put Vine, Soler, Adam Yates and Baroncini out in a single afternoon. From that wreckage Jhonatan Narváez salvaged a remarkable campaign — three stage wins (Cosenza, Fermo, Chiavari) — turning a decimated roster into the race's busiest stage-hunting outfit, with youngster Jan Christen prominent in the breakaways.

Soudal built their Giro around Paul Magnier's sprint, and the 21-year-old delivered a hat-trick — Burgas (Stage 1), Sofia (Stage 3) and Pieve di Soligo (Stage 18) — while fighting Narváez for the maglia ciclamino. The Belgian squad turned the bunch finishes into a showcase for cycling's next great fast man.

Astana were the surprise stage-hunting force of the Giro, taking three: Guillermo Silva from a small group in Veliko Tarnovo (Stage 2), Davide Ballerini in the cobbled Naples sprint (Stage 6) and Alberto Bettiol from the break (Stage 13). Christian Scaroni added the team's habitual presence in the mountain breakaways. A return far beyond pre-race expectations.

Two jerseys' worth of headlines. Giulio Ciccone took the Cima Coppi atop the Passo Giau to wrestle the mountains classification off Vingegaard and carried the maglia azzurra to Rome, while Jonathan Milan closed the race by winning the bunch sprint on the Via del Circo Massimo. A campaign built on both the high passes and the flat finishes.

A strong supporting Giro: Filippo Ganna dominated the Stage 10 time trial and lit up the Rome finale, while Thymen Arensman rode into the GC podium fight, ultimately finishing fourth overall with former champion Egan Bernal a decisive road captain — it was Bernal's pacing on Piancavallo that protected Arensman's place in the closing mountains.

EF got the result every breakaway team chases: Michael Valgren soloed to Andalo on Stage 17 for the first Grand Tour stage win of his long career. A single, well-judged move that justified a fortnight of aggression from the break.

A landmark for the Norwegian project: Fredrik Dversnes went clear into Milan on Stage 15 to give Uno-X Mobility its first stage win at the Giro d'Italia — reward for a team that has made breakaway racing its signature.

No win, but a steady presence in the bunch gallops: Corbin Strong banked a string of top-eight finishes in the first-week sprints, the New Zealander confirming his place among the fast men on a Giro otherwise dominated by Magnier and Milan.

An anonymous Giro for the Australian squad: no stage win, jersey, or GC placing of note, their best mark a 10th place in the final team classification. Three weeks that quietly passed them by.

Alpecin-Premier Tech started the Giro but left Rome without a stage win, classification jersey, or GC placing — a flat three weeks by the team's usual fast-finishing standards.

Lotto-Intermarché lined up but the Giro passed them by — no stage, jersey, or GC podium across the three weeks.

The ProTeam wildcard rode its Giro invitation without converting it into a stage win, jersey, or GC result — a hard three weeks for the smaller squad.