Pellizzari announces himself as a Giro contender with dominant solo win and overall victory in the Alps

Giulio Pellizzari has won the final stage of the Tour of the Alps. In the race leader's jersey, the young Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider rode clear of his rivals and finished solo in Bolzano — sealing the overall classification in the process. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) rode a solid race to finish second overall.

With the top four separated by just six seconds, the final day promised a tense showdown. Pellizzari entered the stage as race leader, but INEOS pair Thymen Arensman and Bernal were only four seconds behind. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe had a second card to play in Aleksandr Vlasov, six seconds further back.

Thursday had also featured a tough mountain stage, won surprisingly by breakaway rider Lennart Jasch. The Tudor German was back in the day's escape on Friday too, joining eleven companions including Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Koen Bouwman (Jayco AlUla) and Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5). The group built a lead, but never more than three minutes.

The first half of the stage was demanding, but the real climbing began in the final 50 kilometres. The Montoppio — 12.7 kilometres at an average of 7.1% — was an unforgiving test, irregular enough to hurt before the end even came into sight. Mark Donovan, Pidcock's teammate, set the pace in the breakaway before the Briton launched his own attack.

The young Colombian Juan Felipe Rodriguez (EF Education-EasyPost) responded smartly and went with him. Behind, the pace lifted in the peloton through work from Jayco AlUla and INEOS Grenadiers, pulling the GC contenders up towards the leaders — though things stayed quiet for a while longer. After a descent, the riders would have to tackle a large chunk of the brutal climb again.

On the descent, Pidcock shed Rodriguez — but the Colombian came back on the climb. The favourites' group was also closing in, just 25 seconds back. Rodriguez briefly dropped the British star before being caught himself. The waiting game was over when the first real attack came — not from the challengers, but from Pellizzari himself. Only the two INEOS leaders, Arensman and Bernal, could initially follow.

A second acceleration was too much for both of them. The Italian opened a small gap on the Dutch climber and his Colombian teammate. Defending champion Michael Storer (Tudor) came back to join the first chasers, while Pellizzari collected bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint. The trio behind needed to claw back around 15 seconds on the long descent into Bolzano.

It came down to who could descend best — but it was the lone leader who kept extending his advantage. The three chasers rode themselves to the limit but could only watch the gap grow to 25 seconds. By the valley floor it was over half a minute. Pellizzari even had time for a bunny hop over a speed bump before crossing the line with his arms aloft. Bernal took second, Storer third, and Arensman fourth.