The 144-kilometre opening stage looped around Sondrio in northern Italy on a hilly circuit that climaxed on the climb to Buglio in Monte. An early move of Cedric Beullens and Fredrik Dversnes opened a four-minute gap before Pier-André Coté sat up. On the Buglio in Monte ascent Dversnes dropped Beullens and pressed on alone, but the lead was tumbling.

With just over 71 kilometres remaining Pogačar simply rode off the front of the bunch, catching the lone Dversnes within a couple of kilometres and dropping him soon after. Five kilometres later the world champion already had a minute on the first chasers — Carapaz, Roglič, Bagioli, Riccitello, Vacek and Double. The chase group swelled into a small peloton but could not claw back a single second.

Only Richard Carapaz dared to take it on, attacking out of the group, but Pogačar simply stretched his advantage past two minutes. He soloed home for the stage win and the first leader's jersey, with Carapaz second at 2:14 and Bagioli third. A brutal opening salvo that all but sealed the GC on day one.

Pogačar leads the general classification after stage 1, already 2:22 clear of Richard Carapaz, with Andrea Bagioli third at 2:39 and Ilan Van Wilder fourth at 4:16. A single hilly road stage handed the race leader a margin that most rivals would struggle to overturn across a week.