The 2022 Giro d'Italia was the 105th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro began in Budapest on 6 May, and Stage 11 occurred on 18 May with a stage to Reggio Emilia. The race finished in Verona on 29 May.
Classification standings Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award Stage 1 6 May 2022 — Budapest (Hungary) to Visegrád (Hungary),
The first stage of the Giro featured an almost entirely flat parcours with a kick at the end. The first were mostly flat while the final featured a steady uphill climb to the finish at Visegrád. The first of the climb averaged 2.6 per cent before kicking up to 5.1 per cent over the rest of the climb. The riders passed through the first intermediate sprint after , with the sprint offering points for the points classification. The last intermediate sprint took place after , with the sprint offering bonus seconds of 3, 2, and 1 to the first three riders across.
After the riders passed through the neutralised zone, two riders from immediately jumped from the peloton as Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani comprised the day's breakaway. The duo would build an advantage of around 11 minutes before , , and began to bring down the gap. After the duo up front took maximum points at the first intermediate sprint, the sprinters fought for the remaining points, with Giacomo Nizzolo () taking third place. The break's advantage continued to dwindle over the rest of the day, with the gap hovering at just over a minute with to go. At the intermediate sprint for bonus seconds, the pair took the first two places before Thomas De Gendt () took the last bonus second. With left, the pair up front was finally swept up by the peloton.
The battle for positions ahead of the final climb soon began after the break was caught. With to go, as the pace increased, a crash took down Harm Vanhoucke (), Jan Tratnik (), and Erik Fetter (); the three would eventually get back up. As the peloton hit the climb, the pace was steady before Lawrence Naesen () launched an attack with to go. led the chase while Davide Ballerini () crashed with left. With remaining, Lennard Kämna () accelerated from the peloton, immediately going past Naesen and building a lead of around 9 seconds. led the chase, with the peloton eventually catching Kämna inside the final kilometre. Once the catch was made, Davide Formolo () attacked but he was unable to build a significant gap. A sprint for the stage win ensued, with Mathieu van der Poel (), Biniam Girmay (), and Caleb Ewan () the main challengers for the win. After Van der Poel went past Girmay, Ewan's front wheel touched Girmay's back wheel, causing the Australian to go down; he would get back up and finish over a minute down. Van der Poel kept himself ahead of Girmay to take the stage win and the first maglia rosa. Pello Bilbao () took third while Richard Carapaz () and Wilco Kelderman () also finished in the lead group, taking four seconds from some of the main GC contenders. With his win, Van der Poel also took the maglia ciclamino and the maglia azzurra as leader of the points and mountains classification, respectively, while Girmay took the white jersey as the best young rider.
Stage 2 7 May 2022 — Budapest (Hungary), (ITT)
The second stage in Hungary featured the race's first individual time trial, with the riders tackling a long technical course in Budapest. The first were mostly flat but the final featured a fourth-category climb to the finish, with the stage's only intermediate time check located just before it. The first of the climb had a steep 14 per cent section before having a false flat uphill section inside the final kilometre.
As is customary for time trial stages, the riders set off in reverse order of their general classification placings. As a result, Harm Vanhoucke () was the first rider off the start ramp. The first rider to set the benchmark time was Alex Dowsett (), who set a time of 12' 23". He sat on the hot seat for a time until Jos van Emden () went four seconds quicker with a time of 12' 19". His time was quickly beaten by his teammate, Edoardo Affini, who finished with a time of 12' 10". His time stood for a while until Lennard Kämna () managed to beat Affini's time by three seconds. Some riders came close to beating his time before the Italian national time trial champion, Matteo Sobrero (), went on to set the provisional fastest time of 12' 03". Only three other riders would go on to beat Sobrero's time. The first was Tom Dumoulin (), who went on to set a time of 11' 55", the first time under 12 minutes. His time was quickly beaten by Simon Yates (), who set the fastest time at the time check before finishing with a time of 11' 50". No one would threaten his time until the last rider off the start ramp, Mathieu van der Poel (), the race leader. Van der Poel was less than a second behind Yates at the time check but he fell short by three seconds at the finish, giving Yates the stage win. In the battle amongst the potential GC contenders, Yates delivered early blows with his stage win as, apart from Dumoulin only losing five seconds, the rest of the potential contenders lost 17 seconds or more. By finishing second, Van der Poel kept the maglia rosa, the maglia ciclamino, and the maglia azzurra while Sobrero took the white jersey as the best young rider.
Stage 3 8 May 2022 — Kaposvár (Hungary) to Balatonfüred (Hungary),
The third stage of the Giro featured the first chance for the pure sprinters to take a win in the race as the riders tackled a flat course from Kaposvár to Balatonfüred. There was only one categorised climb on the route, with the riders tackling the fourth-category climb to Tihany which was crested with left. The intermediate sprint for points took place after while the intermediate sprint for bonus seconds took place with left.
As soon as the stage officially started, the two breakaway riders in stage one, Mattia Bais and Filippo Tagliani of , went into the break once again but this time, they were joined by Samuele Rivi (). The trio built an advantage of around seven minutes before took station at the front of the peloton to bring the break back. With to go, Jan Tratnik () became the first rider to abandon the race as a result of the injuries he sustained after crashing in stage one. After the three breakaway riders took maximum points at the first intermediate sprint, Fernando Gaviria () won the sprint for the remaining maximum points. Halfway through the stage, and began to send riders to the front of the peloton to contribute to the chase. With to go, Rivi accelerated from the break, dropping Tagliani in the process while at this point, the peloton was only around less than a minute behind. Rivi and Bais continued to hover at around less than a minute ahead of the peloton until they were brought back with left.
After the breakaway riders were caught, the teams of the GC riders and the sprinters went to the front to protect their riders. from the finish, Pascal Eenkhoorn () and Rick Zabel () escaped from the peloton to battle for the KOM points, which was won by Eenkhoorn. Zabel, meanwhile, took the lead in the mountains classification with the points he gained. Eenkhoorn continued with his move as Zabel dropped back to the peloton, with the lone escapee getting caught with remaining. The peloton soon headed towards the inevitable bunch sprint. In the sprint, Caleb Ewan () was caught out of position while Mark Cavendish (), Arnaud Démare (), Biniam Girmay (), and Gaviria were put in the best position towards the finish. As Cavendish's final lead out man, Michael Mørkøv, was leading out his sprinter, Cavendish launched his sprint with to go. Cavendish held off Démare and Gaviria to win the stage, his 16th Giro stage win. All the main GC contenders finished safely in the peloton. Mathieu van der Poel () kept the maglia rosa as there were no changes in the top ten ahead of the race's first rest day.
Rest day 1 9 May 2022 — Avola
Stage 4 10 May 2022 — Avola to Etna (Rif. Sapienza),
Following the rest day, the riders arrived in Sicily for the first mountain stage of the race and the first major test for the GC contenders. On this occasion, the riders finished atop Etna for the fourth time in the last six editions of the race, with the riders going up Rifugio Sapienza. The first of the stage featured a hilly section that presented an opportunity for the breakaway to form. Following a descent and a long flat section, the riders headed uphill towards Mount Etna. Just before the climb, the intermediate sprint for points took place with left while the intermediate sprint for bonus seconds took place with remaining. Officially, the climb up Rifugio Sapienza is long with an average gradient of 5.9 per cent. The steepest sections of the climb were in the middle, with a section averaging approximately 7.4 per cent. Following this section, the climb averaged 5.4 per cent before the road flattened inside the final kilometre.
As the stage officially started, the fight for the breakaway was furious, with multiple riders wanting to go into the break. While the fight for the break was ongoing, two crashes took place; among those involved was Simon Yates () but no one was seriously injured. As the road started to go uphill, 13 riders jumped from the peloton, with Lilian Calmejane () and Simone Ravanelli () attempting to bridge to the leading group; Calmejane would eventually make it to the break while Ravanelli drifted back to the peloton. The best placed GC rider in the break was Mauri Vansevenant (), who sat 43 seconds behind the race leader, Mathieu van der Poel (). The peloton allowed the break to gain 11 minutes of an advantage before and began to control the gap. As the riders rode through the initial uncategorised climb, news broke through that Miguel Ángel López () abandoned the race after suffering from a left hip injury. The peloton continued to keep the break in check but towards the climb, the break still had a lead of around six minutes. With to go, Stefano Oldani () attacked from the break, immediately building a gap over the rest of the breakaway riders. Oldani won both intermediate sprints while Vansevenant took two seconds at the second intermediate sprint to add to his virtual GC lead.
At the foot of the final climb, the rest of the breakaway group began to split, with six riders remaining in the chase group while Oldani held a lead of almost a minute. With remaining, Juan Pedro López () accelerated from the chase group, catching Oldani with to go before immediately dropping him. Oldani was soon passed by the chase group, which contained three riders: Lennard Kämna (), Sylvain Moniquet (), and Vansevenant. from the finish, Kämna went off in pursuit of López, who was around half a minute ahead. He would catch the solo leader with left, setting up a two-man sprint for the finish. In the final corner, López misjudged the apex, with Kämna building a small gap to take the stage win. Third place on the stage went to Rein Taaramäe (), who was dropped from the chase group but gauged his efforts well to finish only half a minute down. In the peloton, a group of 17 riders containing most of the main contenders finished two and a half minutes down as the headwind dissuaded attacks on the climb. Some notable contenders saw their GC hopes dashed on the climb. Vincenzo Nibali (), the team's leader after López's withdrawal, lost more than two minutes, while Tobias Foss () also finished in the same group as the Italian. Foss's teammate, Tom Dumoulin, lost seven minutes.