'Fresher than ever': why Leemreize could be Picnic PostNL's secret weapon at the Giro

Picnic PostNL have had an undeniably difficult season. Multiple riders picked up injuries in the first half of 2026, and the team's first win of the year only arrived last week, at the Tour of Turkey, courtesy of Casper van Uden. Yet that win was a significant signal ahead of the Giro d'Italia — a race where everything could change for the Dutch squad.

Picnic PostNL head to the Giro without their intended team leader Max Poole. The Briton is still recovering from two serious viruses, which means the focus in Italy will be on stage wins. Van Uden is the target for the sprint stages, but the team also has several interesting names for the mountains.

Frank van den Broek, Warren Barguil and Chris Hamilton all have climbers' legs. But it is Gijs Leemreize above all who is worth watching. The 26-year-old Dutchman is about to start his sixth Grand Tour, and his first Giro back in 2022 — then with Jumbo-Visma — was impressive.

That May, Leemreize got into the breakaway five times and came agonisingly close to a stage win on two occasions. He finished second once, third once — and on the other three attempts he also made it to the front group ahead of the peloton, delivering five top-ten finishes in all.

That knack for getting into the right move has stayed with him at every Grand Tour he has started since, including in 2024 and 2025 following his move to the team then known as DSM.

That Leemreize will make it into the break a few times at the Giro seems a near certainty. But the form he has shown in recent races suggests he can be more than just a passenger in the move. Which means the first part of 2026 could yet end on a high note — after Leemreize spent the entire first three months of the year away from racing.

The reason was a crash with a car on the final day of an altitude camp in Tenerife, in which he broke his collarbone. "Because of that, I did two altitude camps before the Tour of the Alps without racing," he told IDL Pro Cycling during the five-day stage race. "I didn't know exactly where I stood, but especially on the first day I felt great."

Leemreize was also well placed in a tough finale on stage two of the Tour of the Alps. Which raised a fair question: is he always this good after a period at altitude? "Normally, no. Although I did train really hard in the second camp. The first altitude block was in the build-up to the season, but because I started racing so late, the second one was genuinely tough."

Those solid blocks of work in the second altitude camp sent Leemreize straight to a high level in the Tour of the Alps. And at Liège-Bastogne-Liège too he was right on form, riding well over 170 kilometres in the front group. That was another very welcome confirmation of what he is capable of. "The crash was frustrating, but I also knew that a broken collarbone doesn't take too long to come back from."

Leemreize turned a negative into a positive. "I had a long period of training, but I thought quite early on: this could actually work out well. Going into the Giro fresher doesn't have to be a disadvantage — particularly in that final week," said the Dutchman, who by that point already knew the role he would be heading to Italy in.

That role is as a free agent. Without Poole, Leemreize can throw himself fully into three weeks of racing. "I've put aside any thoughts of GC. Without Max, I can go for stage wins and save my legs in the grupetto on other days," he said, with a smile that said everything. Bring on the fight for stage wins — and maybe KOM points too.