This page contains the stage podium, the race story, GC implications after the stage, and per-rider performance. Read no further if you intend to watch this stage unspoiled.
Tommaso Dati (Team Ukyo) sprinted to a breakthrough win in Innsbruck, beating Tom Pidcock and Florian Stork after INEOS Grenadiers burned their lead-out train — and used Thymen Arensman as a late-attack foil — only to be reeled in inside the final metres. Dati took the first leader's jersey; the GC favourites all finished on the same time.
A modest three-man break (Nolde, Dirnbauer, Zangerle) never threatened over the double ascent of the Gotzens climb (4 km at 7%), and the controlled pace kept the bunch largely intact for a sprint. Inside the final 5 km INEOS Grenadiers lit up a full lead-out on a short ramp into Innsbruck, then let a gap open for Thymen Arensman, who attacked solo with 4 km to go. The peloton only swallowed Arensman inside the final metres. Team Ukyo held their nerve: Tommaso Dati sat invisible in the draft until the last 150 metres of the Brandjochstraße finish, then accelerated out of Pidcock's slipstream to take a superb win — his second pro victory. Pidcock's lead-out was perfect but his sprint lacked the final pop. Dati took the first leader's jersey of the race.
With the bunch finish leaving the GC favourites on the same time, bonus seconds put Tommaso Dati (Team Ukyo) into the first leader's jersey, with Tom Pidcock second and Florian Stork third overall. The race against the clock among the climbers had not yet begun — every GC threat was within seconds heading into the Val Martello summit finish.
Returning from his Volta a Catalunya crash, Pidcock got a perfect lead-out onto the Brandjochstraße ramp but couldn't hold off Dati's slipstream acceleration in the final 150 metres. A near-miss on day one that hinted his form was already back — confirmed two days later with his Stage 3 win.